Laken Riley: Migrant accused of murdering nursing student appears in court

Ms. Riley, a nursing student in the northeast Georgia city of Athens, was found dead in a wooded area of ​​the University of Georgia (UGA) campus when she failed to return from her morning jog on February 22.

Mr. Ibarra was arrested the next day and has been in custody since then. He faces 10 criminal charges, including aggravated murder, first degree murder, aggravated assault and other alleged crimes.

Ybarra waived his right to a jury trial, which means his case will be heard and decided by District Judge Patrick Haggard.

Court documents indicate that prosecutors are seeking a life sentence without parole.

As the trial began Friday in an Athens courtroom, lead prosecutor Sheila Ross presented evidence recorded on Ms. Riley’s smartwatch that allegedly showed she was “fighting for her life, fighting for her dignity” just because a few minutes after she ran away.

Her team also shared video evidence, including security camera footage that allegedly shows Mr. Ibarra throwing blood-stained clothing and gloves into garbage cans and garbage cans that were emptied before police could search them.

Ms Ross said her team would present further evidence linking Mr Ybarra to the murder.

She claimed they found Mr. Ybarra’s DNA under one of Ms. Riley’s fingernails and his thumbprint on her cell phone, which the nursing student tried to use to call the authorities.

Ibarra’s attorney, Dustin Kirby, acknowledged during his opening statement that “the evidence in this case is very good that Laken Riley was killed.”

But he said there was “lack of evidence” linking his client to Ms Riley’s death. He argued that they were not convincing beyond a reasonable doubt, the threshold of evidence needed to convict Mr. Ybarra.

Judge Haggard also heard from two witnesses: Sergeant Kenneth Maxwell, who discovered the body, and Ms Riley’s roommate Lily Steiner.

Prosecutors played Mr Maxwell’s body camera footage, which clearly shows him attempting to resuscitate the young woman.

In the witness stand, Sergeant Maxwell said the scene did not look like an accident. He said it appeared as if “someone was trying to either take her (Ms Riley’s) top off or maybe use it to pull her.”

Ms. Steiner, 22, testified that she, Ms. Riley and their other roommates shared their locations with each other through a mobile app.

The roommates went to look for Ms Riley after she had been “in the woods for some time”, only to find one of her headphones. Then they called the police.

Ms. Riley’s death and Mr. Ybarra’s criminal and immigration history have become central to the immigration debate that will define the 2024 presidential election.

In March, President Joe Biden was outraged by the killing of Ms. Riley during his State of the Union address.

Republican lawmakers blamed Ms. Riley’s death on the Biden-Harris administration. They said it was the White House’s fault that Mr. Ybarra, who entered the United States illegally in 2022, was able to remain in the country despite his criminal record.

In his bid for the White House, President-elect Donald Trump mentioned Ms Riley frequently on the campaign trail, met with her family and vowed “not to let (criminal migrants) spill another drop of precious American blood”.

Trump has regularly argued that migrants entering the US are criminals who could pose a threat domestically.

Research of the National Institute of Justice, external however, it shows that undocumented immigrants in the US are arrested for violent and drug-related crimes at less than half the rate of native citizens.