Laken Riley homicide trial resumes in Georgia
Retired NYPD inspector and lawyer Paul Mauro analyzes the testimony thus far within the trial of Jose Ibarra, an unlawful immigrant accused within the homicide of a Georgia school scholar.
ATHENS, Ga. – Jose Ibarra, the suspect accused of murdering Augusta College scholar Laken Riley in February whereas she was on a morning run, is again in courtroom Monday for the second day of his trial.
Safety guards escorted Ibarra, who was carrying a striped shirt and black pants with handcuffs round his wrists, into Superior Court docket Choose Patrick Haggard’s courtroom on the Athens-Clarke County courthouse Monday round 7:15 a.m.
Prosecutors say Ibarra, a 26-year-old unlawful immigrant from Venezuela, attacked and killed Riley, a 22-year-old nursing scholar, whereas she was jogging alongside trails close to Lake Herrick on the College of Georgia campus in Athens the morning of Feb. 22.
The suspect is charged with 10 counts whole, together with one depend of malice homicide, three counts of felony homicide, one depend of kidnapping, one depend of aggravated assault with intent to rape, one depend of aggravated battery, one depend of hindering a 911 name, one depend of tampering with proof and one depend of being a “peeping Tom.” Ibarra pleaded not responsible to all counts.
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Jose Ibarra listens by way of an interpreter in the course of the second day of his trial on the Athens-Clarke County Superior Court docket on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (Miguel Martinez/Atlanta Journal-Structure by way of AP, Pool)
“On Feb. 22, Jose Ibarra placed on a black hat, a hoodie-style jacket, and a few black kitchen-style disposable gloves, and he went attempting to find females on the College of Georgia campus,” prosecutor Sheila Ross stated in her opening assertion Friday.
Ross stated Ibarra then encountered Riley on her typical morning run and attacked her.
“The proof will present that Laken fought. She fought for her life.”
“When Laken Riley refused to be his rape sufferer, he bashed her head in with a rock repeatedly,” Ross stated. “…The proof will present that Laken fought. She fought for her life. She fought for her dignity. And in that combat, she prompted this defendant to depart proof behind. She additionally marked her killer for your entire world to see. The forensic proof that he left behind on this combat is his DNA, and solely his DNA.”
Allyson Phillips, mom of Laken Riley, a Georgia nursing scholar killed earlier this yr, reacts as John Phillips, Riley’s stepfather, comforts her throughout Jose Ibarra’s trial at Athens-Clarke County Superior Court docket on Friday, Nov. 15, 2024 in Athens, Georgia. (Hyosub Shin/Atlanta Journal-Structure by way of AP, Pool)
Between Riley’s Garmin watch, a Christmas current she used for working, and her iPhone, investigators have been capable of decide that she positioned a 911 name at 9:11 a.m., simply minutes after she left for her run at 9:03. She then fought for her life for 17 minutes till her coronary heart stopped at 9:28 a.m.
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Ibarra and his brothers, additionally in the US illegally from Venezuela, lived in an house constructing lower than a half mile from the on-campus park the place Riley was working.
The defendant’s lawyer, Dustin Kirby, argued in his opening assertion that proof wouldn’t show past an inexpensive doubt that Ibarra killed Riley. He stated it could take “gymnastics” for the prosecution to argue Ibarra killed Riley with what he described as “circumstantial proof.”
Allyson Phillips, mom of Laken Riley, second left, listens in the course of the trial of Jose Ibarra at Athens-Clarke County Superior Court docket on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (Miguel Martinez/Atlanta Journal-Structure by way of AP, Pool)
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“If that occurs and the presumption of innocence is revered, there shouldn’t be sufficient proof to persuade you past an inexpensive doubt that Mr. Ibarra is responsible of the crimes charged,” Kirby stated on Monday.
The primary witness to testify on Monday — the state’s tenth witness thus far in Ibarra’s trial — was UGA PD Sgt. Joshua Epps, who responded to Ibarra’s house in Athens, the place he lived with 4 different people, together with his two brothers, on Feb. 23. Epps stated police detained and questioned Ibarra’s brothers, Diego and Argenis Ibarra, that morning round 8:30 a.m. with Spanish-speaking officers translating. Police-worn bodycam footage was performed in courtroom on Monday displaying the encounter, partially on mute as a result of the brothers might be testifying in courtroom later this week.
Jose Ibarra reacts as he listens by way of an interpreter in the course of the second day of his trial on the Athens-Clarke County Superior Court docket on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Athens, Ga. Jose Ibarra is dealing with costs for the homicide of Laken Hope Riley, whose physique was discovered on the College of Georgia campus in February. (Miguel Martinez/Atlanta Journal-Structure by way of AP, Pool)
Police questioning that morning started with Diego Ibarra, who was carrying what gave the impression to be the identical black Adidas hat as a suspicious particular person who was captured on safety digital camera footage on the day of Riley’s homicide. The footage reveals the person disposing of an object in dumpster at an house advanced not removed from the crime scene. Police obtained the footage after discovering a darkish jacket with lengthy, brown hair tangled in its buttons.
Sgt. Epps stated the Adidas hat appeared to have dust on the again of it whereas Diego wore in on the morning of Feb. 23. Diego additionally introduced a false ID that confirmed two completely different birthdates.
At one level throughout their questioning of Diego, Agrneis walked out of the house carrying what gave the impression to be a five-gallon, white rubbish bag. Officers rapidly obtained a search warrant for the house.
Athens-Clarke County Police Officer Zachary Davis factors out the jacket he collected from a dumpster on {a photograph} as he testifies on the witness stand in the course of the trial of Jose Ibarra, accused of killing a Georgia nursing scholar earlier this yr, at Athens-Clarke County Superior Court docket on Friday, Nov. 15, 2024 in Athens, Georgia. (Hyosub Shin/Atlanta Journal-Structure by way of AP, Pool)
“Properly, primarily based on the truth that he was carrying that hat, the timeframe that … [UGA PD Sgt.] Tim Johnson encountered him was inside 24 hours of the homicide,” Epps stated of their reasoning behind acquiring the search warrant. “He was strolling again in direction of the overall route of campus, which was regarding as nicely.”
In a while within the bodycam video footage, Epps and different officers entered the house and located one other particular person, later recognized as Jose Ibarra, sleeping in mattress not removed from the doorway of the house.
Officers recognized themselves and stated “hola” a number of instances upon getting into the house, attempting to wake Jose. Ultimately, he received up off the bed, and police started questioning him. In addition they requested to examine his physique for any indicators of damage.
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“I observed on his proper arm — his bicep — there was a scratch, which I recognized as a possible defensive position,” Epps testified. “On his left arm, he had a forearm scratch that was very comparable, which in my thoughts, appeared like fingernail scratches to me. Whereas he was sitting there talking to us. I additionally observed on his left wrist slightly below the palm, he had a puncture, possibly half an inch broad. … I might see, like, moist flesh … nearly prefer it was contemporary. It wasn’t very previous.”
Diego Ibarra’s teardrop tattoo that authorities imagine to be gang-related. (Center District of Georgia)
UGA PD Patrol Cpl. Rafael Sayan, who speaks Spanish, testified Wednesday that whereas he was inspecting Jose for accidents he observed a crimson mark on his head that Jose stated was from carrying a hat. Bodycam footage of the interplay was performed in courtroom Monday morning.
“I ask him what kind of hat, and he motions over to Diego, who’s sitting to the appropriate of him, that it is a hat similar to that one which was on Diego,” Sayan testified.
Diego and Argenis, in the meantime, didn’t seem to have any indicators of damage when police inspected them that morning.
Jason Riley, middle, Laken Riley’s father, listens in the course of the Jose Ibarra trial at Athens-Clarke County Superior Court docket on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (Miguel Martinez/Atlanta Journal-Structure by way of AP, Pool)
The state’s eleventh witness to testify on Monday, GBI Particular Agent Annie Moorman, stated that in a search of the Ibarra brothers’ house on Feb. 23, investigators positioned three plastic, restaurant-style black gloves from a drawer within the kitchen.
“Earlier within the day, officers had positioned gloves that had been described as trying type of like these from a bush on the house advanced,” Moorman stated. Different regulation enforcement officers beforehand stated black disposable gloves had been recovered from a bush close to the dumpster the place authorities recovered the black jacket with lengthy hair wrapped within the buttons.
Rosbeli Flores-Bello, the Ibarra brothers’ former roommate, testified that she met Jose in Queens, New York, in 2023 by way of a mother-in-law when she got here to the US along with her companion. She had been staying on the Roosevelt Resort on the time.
Migrants attain for meals being handed out whereas filmed by a lady exterior of the Roosevelt Resort the place dozens of just lately arrived migrants have been tenting out as they attempt to safe non permanent housing on August 02, 2023 in New York Metropolis. The migrants, many from Central America and Africa, have been sleeping on the streets or at different shelters as town continues to battle with the inflow of migrants whose numbers have surged this spring and summer time. (Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Photographs)
Diego Ibarra was already in Athens and promised they may discover work within the school city, she stated. Round Sept. 9 or 10 in 2023, they requested a “humanitarian flight” from Manhattan to Atlanta and ultimately traveled to Athens, the place she moved into the identical house with Jose, Diego, Argenis and one other male roommate.
Flores-Bello shared a mattress with Argenis, she advised the courtroom Monday.
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She later recognized photographs of Jose, Diego and Agenis Ibarra after which recognized Jose because the suspicious male seen in safety digital camera footage throwing an object into the dumpster the place officers discovered the darkish jacket proof.
On Monday afternoon, FBI analyst Abeisis Ramirez, who speaks fluent spanish, testified that she listened to a recording of a Could 11 jail cellphone name between Jose Ibarra and his spouse, Layling Ibarra, who lives in New York, greater than 10 instances.
Within the contentious name performed aloud in courtroom and translated by Ramirez, Fanco confronts Jose about Riley’s homicide.
“She stated that she thinks it is loopy that they do not have anybody else’s DNA.”
“She stated 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 911,” Ramirez stated whereas translating the decision earlier than the courtroom.
Laken Riley smiles for a photograph whereas working. Riley, a nursing scholar on the College of Georgia, was discovered useless close to a lake on campus on Thursday, February 22, 2024. (Laken Riley/Instagram)
UGA PD Officer Wesley Durkit, the prosecution’s sixteenth witness, testified Monday that Riley’s cellphone information confirmed that she initiated an SOS name on her cellphone about six seconds earlier than she stopped working at 9:10:44 a.m. At 9:10:50 a.m., her cellphone acknowledged {that a} 911 name wanted to be positioned, and that 911 name went out at 9:11:06 a.m. Riley’s mom cried in courtroom as Durkit described Riley’s closing actions earlier than her heartbeat stopped.
The state’s seventeenth witness, a UGA graduate scholar, stated she heard sounds coming from the door of her single house. Her testimony stemmed from a “peeping Tom” cost filed in opposition to Ibarra in reference to Riley’s case.
“I used to be within the bathe, and I heard any person attempting to open my door.”
The coed stated she was within the bathe and received out when she heard sounds coming from her door and walked into her lounge, the place she noticed an unknown individual by way of her home windows. The individual was carrying a black hat, black hood, black jacket and black gloves when she noticed the individual by way of her window.
Jose Ibarra pays consideration to a witness throughout his trial on the Athens-Clarke County Superior Court docket on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (Miguel Martinez/Atlanta Journal-Structure by way of AP, Pool) (Miguel Martinez/Atlanta Journal-Structure)
On Friday, the courtroom heard from 9 of the prosecution’s witnesses, together with Riley’s roommates and a number of other regulation enforcement officers with completely different businesses.
Proof included screenshots of her roommates’ telephones after they used the Discover My Pals app to attempt to find Riley when she didn’t come again from her run; her AirPod they discovered on the bottom after they went out trying to find her alongside her common working route; police-worn physique digital camera footage; safety digital camera footage; Riley’s cellphone, which had a male’s thumbprint on the underside; and the athletic clothes Riley was carrying when she was attacked.
Superior Court docket Choose H. Patrick Haggard speaks in the course of the trial of Jose Ibarra at Athens-Clarke County Superior Court docket on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (Miguel Martinez/Atlanta Journal-Structure by way of AP, Pool)
UGA Police Chief Jeffrey Clark beforehand described the homicide as a “crime of alternative” throughout a February press convention.
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Ibarra illegally crossed into the US by way of El Paso, Texas, in September 2022 and was launched into the U.S. by way of parole, ICE and DHS sources beforehand advised Fox Information.
Diego Ibarra, who labored briefly in a UGA cafeteria earlier than his arrest in February, is charged with inexperienced card fraud and had ties to a recognized Venezuelan gang within the U.S., referred to as Tren de Aragua, based on federal courtroom paperwork.
Laken Riley poses for a photograph posted to Fb. Riley, a nursing scholar on the College of Georgia, was discovered useless close to a lake on campus on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024. (Allyson Phillips/Fb)
On Friday afternoon, the protection subpoenaed Diego Ibarra and their youthful brother, Argenis Ibarra, to testify throughout Jose’s trial on Wednesday.
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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 fashion to injure a toddler lower than 17 and a motorized vehicle license violation.”
Fox Information’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
