A Georgia judge rejected the request for a new trial made by defense lawyers representing Jose Ibarra, who was convicted of killing Laken Riley over two years ago.
Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard sentenced Ibarra, 26, to life in prison without the possibility of parole in November 2024 for murdering the 22-year-old nursing student near her college campus in Athens, Georgia. The illegal immigrant and Venezuelan national was convicted on all 10 counts, including malice murder and felony murder.
Riley’s death was widely reported throughout the 2024 election cycle as her murder became a focal point in the national immigration debate over whether the southern border should be closed.
After returning to office last year, President Donald Trump signed the Laken Riley Act into law to arrest and detain illegal immigrants for theft-related crimes, as Ibarra once was before he killed Riley.
Since his latest imprisonment, Ibarra’s attorneys have tried getting their client a new trial. Their effort was ultimately in vain.
Judge Haggard upheld the criminal defendant’s sentence in a Monday order, asserting that the evidence presented by Georgia prosecutors was “overwhelming and powerful.”
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Ibarra’s lawyers argued in a late January hearing that the judge declined two defense motions before trial, thereby violating Ibarra’s constitutional rights. One request was to delay the trial to give a DNA expert enough time to review and analyze the evidence. The judge found Ibarra would not be harmed if the trial proceeded without a delay.
By issuing the new ruling, Haggard stood by his verdict. He was the one who handed down the verdict after Ibarra waived his right to a jury trial.
