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. The man’s lawyer, though, said the evidence is circumstantial and doesn’t prove his client is guilty.
Jose Ibarra, who entered the U.S. illegally , is charged with murder in the 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 heard and decided by Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard.
Prosecutor Sheila Ross told the judge that Ibarra encountered Riley Feb. 22 while she was running on the University of Georgia campus in Athens. Riley, 22, was a student at Augusta University College of Nursing, which also has a campus in the city that is about 70 miles east of Atlanta.
“When Laken Riley refused to be his rape victim, he bashed her skull in with a rock repeatedly ,” Ross said, adding that the evidence would show that Riley “fought for her life, for her dignity.”