ATHENS, Ga. — Protection attorneys for Jose Ibarra, the suspect accused of murdering Augusta College scholar Laken Riley on the College of Georgia campus in February, rested their case Wednesday morning after bringing simply two witnesses ahead on Tuesday.
The Athens-Clarke County court docket heard from 29 of the prosecution’s witnesses over three days in Ibarra’s homicide trial, which started Nov. 15, with prosecutor Sheila Ross highlighting proof starting from Ibarra’s DNA on key items of proof to safety digicam footage and cellphone knowledge inserting him on the location of the crime on the time Riley was killed.
“Laken Riley herself has given you all of the proof you want alone to search out this man responsible of each single rely on this indictment,” prosecutor Sheila Ross mentioned in her closing assertion on Wednesday. “She did struggle, and it’s a direct results of that struggle that offers you all of the bodily proof you want to convict him.”
“He killed her as a result of she wouldn’t let him rape her,” Ross added.
LAKEN RILEY MURDER: FAMILY OF SLAIN UGA STUDENT SOBS IN COURT AS WITNESSES DESCRIBE CRIME SCENE EVIDENCE
Jose Ibarra seems at his trial in Athens-Clarke County Superior Court docket Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Structure through AP, Pool)
Ibarra, 26, is charged with 10 counts in Riley’s homicide and a “peeping Tom” incident on the morning of Feb. 22. Prosecutors argued the peeping Tom incident is said to the assault towards Riley, 22, as a result of it occurred simply over an hour earlier than she was killed and confirmed Ibarra’s alleged intent to prey on girls the morning of Feb. 22.
Witnesses testified that DNA matching Ibarra’s was present in Riley’s fingernails and on a jacket with Riley’s hair recovered from a dumpster close to his condo advanced.
Throughout rebuttal, the prosecution performed video footage of authorities interrogating Diego Ibarra the day after Riley’s homicide, displaying Diego figuring out his brother in safety digicam footage throwing the jacket with Riley’s hair on it in a dumpster behind their condo advanced on the sting of UGA’s campus. Diego recognized Jose based mostly on his clothes, hat and bag.
LAKEN RILEY’S ALLEGED KILLER JOSE IBARRA FLEW FROM ‘GROUND ZERO’ OF MIGRANT CRISIS TO GEORGIA
A hat allegedly belonging to Jose Ibarra is introduced as proof throughout the trial for Ibarra in Athens-Clarke County Superior Court docket Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Structure through AP, Poo)
“In fact I do know my very own brother,” Diego allegedly instructed police, in accordance with Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) Particular Agent Lucas Beyer, one of many officers who interviewed Diego.
Ibarra’s protection attorneys have to this point argued that proof towards the Venezuelan nationwide is circumstantial, and so they have pointed fingers towards Jose’s brothers, Diego and Argenis Ibarra, who share similarities with Jose of their DNA make-up. Diego was additionally seen carrying the identical black, Adidas-style hat prosecutors say Jose was carrying Feb. 22 when police questioned Diego Feb. 23. DNA matching Riley’s was discovered on that very same hat.
Athens-Clarke County police officer Zachary Davis factors out the jacket he collected from a dumpster on {photograph} as he testifies on the witness stand throughout a trial of Jose Ibarra, accused of killing a Georgia nursing scholar earlier this yr, at Athens-Clarke County Superior Court docket, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (Hyosub Shin/Atlanta Journal-Structure through AP, Pool)
“If that occurs, and the presumption of innocence is revered, there shouldn’t be sufficient proof to persuade you past an affordable doubt that Mr. Ibarra is responsible of the crimes charged,” protection lawyer Dustin Kirby mentioned Monday.
Watch: Laken Riley, Jose Ibarra seen on path digicam footage day of homicide
Argenis and Diego have been subpoenaed to testify as witnesses for the protection, however the court docket finally determined to not enable their testimony as a result of they’re at the moment concerned in their very own legal instances. Jose’s protection lawyer, John Donnelly, talked about that Diego’s protection lawyer suggested that he shouldn’t testify throughout Jose’s trial whereas he’s at the moment charged with inexperienced card fraud.
LAKEN RILEY MURDER TRIAL: PROSECUTORS PLACE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SUSPECT AT SCENE IN OPENING STATEMENTS
Allyson Phillips, second from left, mom of Laken Riley, reacts as John Phillips, stepfather of Riley, comforts her throughout the trial of Jose Ibarra at Athens-Clarke County Superior Court docket Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (Hyosub Shin/Atlanta Journal-Structure through AP, Pool)
The protection’s second witness, Stephanie Slaton, lived in an condo subsequent to the Ibarra household on the time of Riley’s homicide. She testified that she spoke to Diego Ibarra Feb. 23, the day after Riley died, whereas “rather a lot” of police had been strolling round within the space of the advanced.
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CHARGED IN LAKEN RILEY MURDER ‘FAST-TRACKING’ TO LIFE IN PRISON: ATTORNEY
From left, Connolly Huth, roommate of Laken Riley, and Lauren Phillips, Riley’s youthful sister, turn into emotional throughout the trial for Jose Ibarra on the Athens-Clarke County Superior Court docket Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Structure through AP, Pool)
Diego Ibarra instructed he didn’t know why police had been strolling round and requested Slaton what had occurred. Slaton, in flip, defined that somebody had “handed away” behind their condo advanced. Two law enforcement officials then approached them and requested what they had been speaking about. Slaton answered them, and so they walked away, she mentioned.
Slaton then testified that Diego, whom she had a sexual relationship with on the time, used a translator app to inform her in English, “Should you inform them, I’ll inform them you probably did it, after which I’ll kill you too.”
WATCH: POLICE ENTER JOSE IBARRA’S APARTMENT:
On cross-examination, Slaton admitted she couldn’t speculate what Diego meant by “if you happen to inform them” as a result of he had been unfamiliar with Riley’s homicide and the rationale police had been strolling round their condo constructing. She additionally admitted she had been offended at Diego for having relations with one other lady.
On Monday, the second day of Ibarra’s trial, the court docket heard a recorded jail cellphone name between Ibarra and his spouse, Layling Franco, that was performed aloud and translated by an FBI analyst who spoke fluent Spanish. Choose Haggard on Tuesday dominated that the translated name couldn’t be submitted as proof.
Federal prosecutors say Tren de Aragua members typically put on Chicago Bulls clothes, even once they haven’t any ties to Chicago and should not followers of the group. Investigators discovered this photograph amongst a number of photos of Diego Ibarra, a suspected member of the gang, carrying Chicago Bulls gadgets. (Center District of Georgia)
“She mentioned that she thinks it is loopy that they do not have anybody else’s DNA. They solely have his. And she or he says she would not perceive how somebody can see somebody dying and never calling [sic] 911,” FBI analyst Abeisis Ramirez testified in court docket Monday whereas translating the decision for the prosecution.
Ibarra and his brothers had been in the US illegally from Venezuela on the time of their respective arrests after Riley’s homicide. Diego is charged with inexperienced card fraud after displaying police a faux ID on Feb. 23, and Argenis has been positioned on an immigration maintain.
Prosecutor Sheila Ross speaks whereas holding an proof bag throughout the trial of Jose Ibarra on the Athens-Clarke County Superior Court docket Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Structure through AP, Pool)
Ibarra illegally crossed into the US via El Paso, Texas, in September 2022 and was launched into the U.S. through parole, ICE and DHS sources beforehand instructed Fox Information.
The three brothers lived in an condo constructing lower than a half mile from the on-campus park the place Riley was operating the morning of Feb. 22. Their condo advanced backed as much as a shortcut that results in operating trails alongside UGA’s campus the place Riley was discovered lifeless in a wooded space, partially bare and coated in leaves, that afternoon. She died of blunt drive trauma and asphyxiation, in accordance with a Georgia Bureau of Investigation medical expert.
The realm the place Laken Riley’s physique was discovered close to Lake Herrick on the College of Georgia’s campus in Athens, Ga., Feb. 24, 2024. (Mark Sims for Fox Information Digital)
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ICE beforehand confirmed to Fox Information Digital that Jose Ibarra had been arrested by the New York Police Division a yr after he entered the U.S. in August 2023 and was “charged with appearing in a way to injure a baby lower than 17 and a motorized vehicle license violation.”
Diego Ibarra, who labored briefly at a UGA cafeteria earlier than his arrest in February, had ties to a identified Venezuelan gang within the U.S., Tren de Aragua, in accordance with federal court docket paperwork.
