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Writer's pictureClassic City News

DA to seek life without parole for Laken Riley’s killer

Jose Ibarra is arraigned in Clarke County Superior Court on Friday, May 31, 2024

By Joe Johnson

The district attorney in the Laken Riley murder case will seek life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for defendant Jose Antonio Ibarra.

Western Judicial Circuit DA Deborah Gonzalez filed a notice of intent to seek that penalty on Friday, the same day that Ibarra was in court to be arraigned on a 10-count indictment that was previously filed in connection with Riley’s murder on Feb. 22, 2023.

The 22-year-old student was beaten with a rock during a sexual assault in a recreational area on the University of Georgia campus.

At his arraignment in Clarke County Superior Court, Ibarra pleaded not guilty to all 10 counts of the indictment that included charges of malice murder, felony murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault with intent to commit rape, aggravated battery, interference with a 911 emergency call, and tampering with evidence.

Murder, rape and kidnapping are all punishable by death in Georgia. Capital punishment has not been sought in the Western Judicial Circuit since 2015, when Jamie Hood was tried for the murder of an Athens-Clarke County police officer.


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5 Comments


tmhodgson
Jun 01

I'm not smart enough to understand what's going on here. Did Gonzalez fear her office wasn't capable of prosecuting this? Or is she that soft-hearted. In my world, if proven guilty, an eye for an eye.

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tmhodgson
Jun 01
Replying to

Quality response. Glad to see you have it in you. To this non-iegal mind, no one person should have the right to choose between a criminal being executed or spending their life behind bars. That's why we have juries. Spreads out the guilt, if guilt is what you feel. However, Ms Gonzalez appears to think she gets to make the 'live or die' choice based on how she charges cold blooded murderers. Bad policy.

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Ah, the compassionate DA who doesn't want to take a life. But wants the taxpayers to support this guy for an annual cost higher than Harvard tuition. How about just letting her pay for his prison time? There's an election coming.

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Replying to

It’s not compassion. Death would be the most compassionate thing to do for someone facing life in prison without the possibility of parole.


Again, I would think the pro-life crowd would be against death sentences…unless you are just pro-birth?

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