(NewsNation) — Testimony began Friday in the trial of the man prosecutors say killed 22-year-old Georgia nursing student Laken Riley.
Jose Ibarra appeared in a packed Athens, Georgia, courtroom, where nine months of investigation and hearings culminated Friday. Ibarra 26, is charged with murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault, battery and tampering with evidence. If convicted, he could face life in prison without the possibility of parole. Prosecutors have said they won’t pursue the death penalty.
Ibarra waived his right to a jury trial earlier this week and instead opted for a trial by judge.
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The case became fodder for the national debate over immigration after the public learned that Ibarra is a Venezuelan national in the U.S. illegally. Riley’s family, however, has said they don’t want her death exploited as a political wedge.
The trial will continue next week.
What we know about the case
The investigation into Riley’s death began when a friend reported her missing on Feb. 22 when she didn’t return home from a run.
Soon after, officers discovered her body on the University of Georgia campus in a forested area.
The University of Georgia Police Department arrested Ibarra in connection to Riley’s death the following day.
Prosecutors allege he beat the Augusta University student with a rock and dragged her body to a secluded area 64 feet off the trail.
Police say the attack was random and that Riley and Ibarra didn’t know each other.
What each side will argue
Riley set out on her usual morning run at 9:03 a.m. on Feb. 22.
That same morning, Ibarra “went hunting for females on the University of Georgia campus,” Special Assistant District Attorney Sheila Ross said.
In addition to Laken’s death, he’s accused of “peeping” into another student’s apartment.
Less than 10 minutes into her run, Riley used the emergency function on her cellphone to call 911, but the line disconnected. Dispatchers immediately called back, but there was no response.
What remains of the interaction is a brief, muffled phone call that prosecutors played in court Friday.
Using the technology and running gear Riley had on her at the time, investigators learned that heart continued to beat until 9:28 a.m.
Riley’s fight “long” and “fierce,” and helped lead investigators to Ibarra, Ross said.
“She fought for her life,” the prosecutor said. “She fought for her dignity and in that fight, she caused this defendant to leave forensic evidence behind.”
Evidence in the trial will include DNA collected from under Riley’s fingernails, a thumbprint on her iPhone, and blood and hair found on a jacket in the dumpster outside Ibarra’s apartment, among other forensic and video evidence, Ross said.
Ibarra’s attorney extended his condolences to Riley’s family, who was seated in the courtroom.
While the evidence strongly supports that Riley’s death was a murder, it doesn’t prove that Ibarra committed it, one of the man’s attorneys Dustin Kirby said.
“People have used this case for their own personal gain — financial gain, political gain,” he said.
Ibarra has pleaded not guilty on all counts.
Fueling immigration concerns
Riley’s death sparked widespread outrage over immigration policies in the United States.
Immigration and customs enforcement quickly revealed that Ibarra and his brother were living in the country without proper documentation.
Politicians and media outlets used Riley’s death to bolster false claims of a “migrant crime wave” — an alleged phenomenon that statistics don’t support.
“I’d rather her not be such a political, how you say — it started a storm in our country,” Riley’s father Jason Riley told NBC News in March. “And it’s incited a lot of people.”
Multiple studies, including one published by the National Academy of Sciences, suggest U.S. citizens are more than twice as likely to be arrested for violent crimes, compared to the arrest rate of people in the country illegally.
“It makes me angry,” Jason Riley said. “I feel like they’re just using my daughter’s name for that. And she was much better than that, and she should be raised up for the person that she is. She was an angel.”
Who was Laken Riley?
If everybody moved through life like Laken Riley, the world would be a better place, her father said.
“She was only 22,” he told NBC. “She had a lot of life left to give to the world.”
A dedicated nursing student and sorority sister, Riley attended the University of Georgia and had recently transferred to Augusta University to study nursing.
Riley was an active member of her Woodstock City Church and Watkinsville First Baptist Church, according to her obituary.
“Her love for spreading God’s word led her to attend mission trips through the church,” the obituary read. “Her love for the Lord was exemplified in every aspect of her life.”
She lives on in her family and friends’ memories as a “kindhearted,” “overall extraordinary person,” with an infectious smile and a penchant for helping others.