Trial begins for the man accused of killing Georgia nursing student Laken Riley

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — A Venezuelan man "went hunting for females on the University of Georgia’s campus” earlier this year and ended up killing nursing student Laken Riley after a struggle, a prosecutor said Friday. A defense attorney said the evidence is circumstantial and doesn't prove his client is guilty.

Jose Ibarra, who entered the U.S. illegally two years ago, is charged with murder and other crimes in Riley's February killing, which helped fan the immigration debate during this year's presidential campaign. Ibarra waived his right to a jury trial, meaning his case is being will be heard and decided by Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard.

Prosecutor Sheila Ross told the judge that Ibarra encountered Riley, a 22-year-old student at Augusta University College of Nursing, while she was out running on Feb. 22.

“When Laken Riley refused to be his rape victim, he bashed her skull in with a rock repeatedly,” Ross said, adding that the evidence will show that Riley “fought for her life, for her dignity.”

As a result of that fight, Ibarra's DNA was left under her fingernails, Ross said. Riley called 911 and, in a struggle over her phone, Ibarra's thumbprint was left on the screen, she said.

The forensic evidence is sufficient to prove Ibarra's guilt, but digital and video evidence will also show that Ibarra killed Riley, the prosecutor said.

Defense attorney Dustin Kirby called the evidence in the case graphic and disturbing, but he said none of it proves that his client killed Riley.

“The evidence in this case is very good that Laken Riley was murdered," he said. "The evidence that Jose Ibarra killed Laken Riley is circumstantial. The evidence that anyone had any intent or certainly committed any sexual assault is speculation.”

The killing added fuel to the national debate over immigration when federal authorities said Ibarra illegally entered the U.S. in 2022 and was allowed to stay to pursue his immigration case.

Republicans, including President-elect Donald Trump, blamed Democratic President Joe Biden’s border policies for her death. As he spoke about border security during his State of the Union address weeks after the killing, Biden mentioned Riley by name.

Riley’s body was found near running trails after her roommates told police she had not returned from a morning run. Police said her killing appeared to be a random attack. Ibarra was arrested the next day and has been held in the Athens-Clarke County Jail without bond.

Ibarra is charged with one count of malice murder, three counts of felony murder and one count each of kidnapping, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, hindering an emergency telephone call, tampering with evidence and being a peeping Tom.

Prosecutors say that on the day of Riley’s killing, Ibarra peered into the window of an apartment in a university housing building, which is the basis for the peeping Tom charge.

Before the trial, defense attorneys unsuccessfully tried to have the proceedings moved out of Athens, a city of about 130,000 people about 70 miles east of Atlanta. They also wanted to have the peeping Tom charge handled separately and to exclude some evidence and expert testimony.