By Joe Johnson
An illegal Venezuelan immigrant will be spending the rest of his life behind bars after being found guilty of murdering nursing student Laken Riley on the University of Georgia campus.
At the end of a four-day trial in Clarke County Superior Court, Judge H. Patrick Haggard on Wednesday found Jose Antonio Ibarra guilty of all 10 counts of his indictment, including the crimes of murder, kidnapping, and aggravated assault with the intent to rape.
Ibarra had waived his right to have a trial by jury, and opted for a bench trial in which Haggard was both judge and jury.
Haggard announced his verdict just minutes after prosecuting and defense attorneys delivered their closing arguments.
Prior to informing Ibarra about his sentence, Haggard listened to gut-wrenching victim impact statements by Riley’s family members and friends.
“Your honor, on February 22nd of 2024, our family and friends were given a life sentence without a chance of parole. Jose Ibarra took no pity on my scared, panicked and struggling child," said Riley's mother, Allyson Philips.
“There is no end to the pain, suffering and loss that we have experienced or will continue to endure on that horrific day,” Phillips said. “My precious daughter was attacked, beaten and shown no mercy. She fought for her life and dignity and to save herself from being brutally raped. This sick, twisted and evil coward showed no regard for Laken or human life.
“There is no end to the pain and suffering that he has inflicted on our family,” Phillips said. “I’m asking you to give this monster life without any chance of parole so he never gets the chance to hurt anyone else ever again.”
According to testimony, Ibarra on the day of the murder set out from his home near the UGA campus to hunt for a female victim, and when he on the UGA encountered Riley on her morning run along a wooded trail he tried to rape her. But the 22-year-old student fiercely fought back and so Ibarra bashed her head repeatedly with a rock.
Over the course of four days the prosecution presented overwhelming evidence pointing to Ibarra’s guilt, including his DNA that was found under Riley’s fingernails, surveillance video of him disposing of clothing that had Riley’s blood on it, and eyewitness testimony that placed him at or near the crime scene.
“Laken Riley herself has given you all the evidence you need alone to find this man guilty of every single count in this indictment," prosecutor Sheila Ross said in her closing statement. "She did fight, and it is a direct result of that fight that gives you all the physical evidence you need to convict him.
“He killed her because she would not let him rape her," Ross said.
Just before he announced Ibarra’s sentence, Judge Haggard addressed Riley’s family members and friends, perhaps marshaling empathy gained through his own experience as a crime victim.
In 1992 his father was murdered during an armed robbery in Athens.
“Oftentimes people use the term closure in an event like this. But I acknowledge that there’s no such thing as closure,” the judge said, adding that sentencing of the defendant “is just another stage in this tragedy.
“As many times as you may reflect on the loss, at some point you start smiling about the memories,” Haggard said, “and I’m hopeful that takes over to a certain extent. But there’s very little, including the sentence of Mr. Ibarra, that’s going to help much. At some point you just realize that you did make it through the day but you don’t know how you did it.”
This is not the only shit stain left on Athens, GA by the policies of the pieces of shit known as Mayor Kelly Girtz and DA Deborah Gonzales.
This is just the biggest, most tragic shit stain.
Thanks to shitlibs like Gonzales, Girtz, Link, Denson, Edwards, Houle, Parker et al., Athens is in need of a major conservative pressure washing.
A MAGA pressure washing.
Make Athens Great Again
This Fucker should swing from the arches, along with his brother. The list of people that failed this beautiful young lady begins in washington and ends in Athens. Never forgive or forget that.
And thanks to Gonzalez and her soft on crime criminal loving progressive liberal Seattle restorative justice policy, this dirty shit bag will not be introduced to the death chamber at Jackson State Prison!
He'll live off the coin of the taxpayers for the rest of his life, join a prison gang, and he'll be KING CON!!!
And all you clowns out there that voted for her, you're all just as responsible as she is for making sure she took the death penalty off the table even before she initially ran for district attorney
I bet you never thought THIS would happen to that poor girl and that there could be somebody actually deserving of the death penalty