Murder suspect Laken Riley wants certain evidence suppressed with trial date set

Jose Ibarra, the accused Venezuelan illegal immigrant The killing of Laken Riley in Februaryis scheduled to appear in court Friday for a hearing to argue that certain evidence, including cell phone data and DNA, should not be allowed in his trial.

Ibarra’s defense previously filed motions to suppress cellphone evidence, which his attorneys say was obtained illegal by law enforcement, and the testimony of a witness who performed DNA testing during Riley’s autopsy, claiming that the results “did not rule out the defendant, but neither did they rule out another known individual associated with the case.”

The hearing will take place about two weeks before Ibarra’s trial is set to begin Nov. 18 in Athens-Clarke County, Georgia.

Ibarra, 26, is accused of attacking and killing Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student at Augusta University, while she was jogging on the campus’ dirt trails of the University of Georgia in Athens on the morning of February 22.

Laken Riley murder: Illegal immigrant suspect in Georgia student’s slaying asks to withhold some evidence

In May, a Georgia grand jury indicted Ibarra on first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping with bodily injury, two counts of aggravated assault with intent to rape, two counts of aggravated assault, obstructing or preventing a person from making a 911 call by tampering with evidence and being a “peeping Tom.”

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The peeping tom charge stems from another incident on February 22 in which the suspect allegedly went to a residence on the UGA campuswhere he “smashed” a window and “spyed” on a university staff member, the indictment alleges.

Suspect in Laken Riley’s murder charged

Ibarra tried to have the “peeping Tom” charge dropped from his case, but prosecutors say the two incidents are “inextricably intertwined.”

READ ORDER DENYING IBARRA’S SEVERANCE MOTION. USERS OF FURNITURE Click here.

“Count 10 allegedly occurred on the same morning that Ms. Riley was killed, and the alleged murders occurred less than 300 yards from each other… Defendant’s alleged crimes are inextricably intertwined because it is alleged that he went to an apartment complex, failed to enter the woman’s apartment. , and then went to a nearby wooded area where students are often found jogging or exercising,” prosecutors wrote in a court document filed Oct. 28.

Laken Riley murder suspect Jose Ibarra pleads not guilty, mother cries in court

Ultimately, the court ordered that the peeping Tom charge not be severed from his case.

Laken Riley’s father says suspect ‘might not have been here’ if border had been secured

Ibarra and his siblings, also in the United States illegally from Venezuela, lived in an apartment building on the edge of the campus park where Riley ran. Ibarra killed the aspiring nurse in what UGA Police Chief Jeffrey Clark described as a “crime of opportunity”.

The quiet, wooded loop Riley ran that morning is easily accessible from behind Ibarra’s apartment complex. It’s a five-minute walk from Ibarra’s door to the approximate spot where Riley was found dead.

The 26-year-old suspect entered the United States illegally El Paso, Texas, in September 2022 and was released to the U.S. on parole, ICE and DHS sources previously told Fox News.

His older brother, Diego Ibarra, is accused of green card fraud and had ties to a notorious Venezuelan gang called the Tren de Aragua, according to federal court documents.

Riley’s death has been frequently mentioned during the 2024 presidential election as Republicans and Democrats debate the implications of illegal immigration over the past four years.

Rachel Morin of Maryland, Jocelyn Nungaray of Texas, Lizbeth Medina of Texas, Ruby Garcia of Michigan and Maria Gonzalez of Texas are women who are believed to have been killed by illegal immigrants in the past two years.

Former President Clinton recently brought up Riley’s killing during a campaign visit to Georgia on behalf of Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn.

“(Harris is) the only candidate who passed a bill that would stop immigration in a certain year up to a certain point and then make sure we give people a decent place to live, we didn’t separate the people from their children. And we did a full check before people entered. Now, Trump has killed the bill,” Clinton said during the campaign stop.

“You had a case in Georgia not long ago, didn’t you? They made an announcement about it. A young woman who had been killed by an immigrant. Yeah, well, if they’d all been vetted properly, it probably wouldn’t have happened,” the former president said.

Republicans argued that Democratic immigration policies under the Biden-Harris administration he presided over a record 7.2 million illegal immigrants arriving in the country in four years, more than population of 36 states.

Source of the original article: Murder suspect Laken Riley wants certain evidence suppressed with trial date set