A judge denied a motion to postpone the trial of the migrant suspect in the Laken Riley murder case.
Patrick Haggard, Judge of the Athens-Clark Superior Court in Georgia, issued the sentence on Friday, after defense attorneys for José Ibarra fought to stop the proceedings.
They did so through a motion to exclude DNA-related evidence in a case centered on the February murder on the University of Georgia (UGA) campus.
He saw Ibarra, a 26-year-old undocumented immigrant from Venezuela, allegedly stalking and strangling the 22-year-old while she was out for a morning run.
Riley, a nursing student at nearby Augusta University, was found near her apartment after a friend called police, prompting an investigation that culminated in Ibarra’s arrest.
Following Judge Haggard’s rejection, the trial is still scheduled to begin on November 13.
José Ibarra’s defense attorneys fought to stop the proceedings this week, but were denied a motion to expel the evidence on Friday. Ibarra, 22, is seen during the day’s proceedings.
He is accused of stalking and strangling 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley, who, at the time, was out for a morning run.
“I’ve tried to understand the facts and I can’t do it,” defense attorney Dustin Kirby reportedly told the judge during his failed attempt to stop the trial.
The jurist continued to testify about TrueAllele, a computerized DNA system devised by the technology company Cybergenetics that helped in the case.
The unknown evidence collected by the system concerns DNA, fingerprints and mobile phone data, lawyers for both sides said, citing how it had been analyzed by investigators and was about to come to light during proceedings this month.
Kirby argued that the items were illegally collected by authorities and that the defense team also needed time to recruit its own expert to analyze the evidence.
Unconvinced, Haggard told Kirby and other attorneys hired by Ibarra that he would not delay the trial over such issues.
Offering respite, he said he would leave open the opportunity for the defense to provide its own expert, before denying that the case would resume as normal.
That set the stage for a trial to be held after election week, indelibly linked to the larger situation on the border with the United States, where Ibarra managed to enter the country.
Since then, the case has attracted the attention of the entire country, due to its greater connotations of the situation on the Southern Border, where Ibarra managed to enter the country.
Ibarra’s brother, Diego, also an illegal immigrant, has accumulated a long criminal history since arriving in April 2023 with a forged Green Card.
Following Judge Patrick Haggard’s rejection, the long-awaited trial is still scheduled to begin on November 13.
He was arrested the day after the murder at his apartment on South Milledge Avenue and has since pleaded not guilty to all 10 charges against him.
They include malicious murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault and more crimes, which could land you up to life in prison when all is said and done.
An investigation after his arrest revealed how he illegally entered the country through El Paso in late 2022.
He was later detained by border officials, but quickly released due to lack of space.
A few months later, he was arrested in New York City, in this case for riding a gasoline-powered moped with a 5-year-old child on his back without a helmet or seat belt.
Despite the August 2023 violation, he was later released again, paving the way for him to travel to Georgia to live with his brother Diego.
Federal authorities discovered how Diego, the suspect’s older brother, bragged about having ties to the infamous Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which the feds say has been trying to gain a foothold in the United States.
After the day’s proceedings, Ibarra will continue to be held in the Athens-Clarke County Jail without bond until his trial in just over a week.
He lifted Riley’s clothes to sexually assault her before hitting her in the head and suffocating her, prosecutors claimed.
Homeland Security investigators would soon find photos online of Diego doing the gang’s hand signs, as well as a series of identifying tattoos such as stars, clocks, trains, guns and crowns.
More photographs showed him carrying firearms, even though illegal immigrants in the United States are not legally allowed to own guns.
Meanwhile, his little brother’s defense recently requested a change of venue due to the extensive media coverage that will surround the case, a motion also denied by Judge Haggard as the case heads to court.
He lifted Riley’s clothes to sexually assault her before hitting her in the head and suffocating her, prosecutors claimed.
He will remain held in the Athens-Clarke County Jail without bond, authorities said.
His trial will take place in just over a week.
