{"id":107811,"date":"2024-11-12T18:03:30","date_gmt":"2024-11-12T18:03:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/suspect-accused-of-killing-laken-riley-waives-jury-in-murder-trial\/"},"modified":"2024-11-12T18:03:30","modified_gmt":"2024-11-12T18:03:30","slug":"suspect-accused-of-killing-laken-riley-waives-jury-in-murder-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/suspect-accused-of-killing-laken-riley-waives-jury-in-murder-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"Suspect accused of killing Laken Riley waives jury in murder trial"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Courtesy of Augusta University<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

(ATHENS, Ga.) — The suspect\u00a0accused of killing<\/a>\u00a022-year-old nursing student Laken Riley on the University of Georgia’s campus has waived his right to a jury trial.<\/p>\n

The judge granted the defense’s motion for a bench trial for the suspect, Jose Ibarra, during a hearing in Athens-Clarke County on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The bench trial is scheduled to begin on Friday before Judge H. Patrick Haggard, who will render a verdict in the case.<\/p>\n

Jury selection had been scheduled to start in the case on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

When asked by Haggard if he understood the waiver of jury trial, and if it was “freely, knowingly and intelligently signed and considered,” Ibarra said yes.<\/p>\n

The defense also said they agree with their client’s decision to waive a jury trial, and confirmed that the form had been translated appropriately into Spanish by a court interpreter for Ibarra.<\/p>\n

Last month, Haggard denied the defense’s motion for a\u00a0change of venue<\/a>\u00a0in the high-profile case.<\/p>\n

Ibarra, 26, was\u00a0indicted by an Athens Clarke County grand jury<\/a>\u00a0on malice murder and felony murder and other offenses in May. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.<\/p>\n

Riley, a student at Augusta University, was found dead in a wooded area on the Athens campus on Feb. 22 after she didn’t return from a run. The indictment alleges Ibarra killed her by “inflicting blunt force trauma to her head and by asphyxiating her” and seriously disfigured her head by striking her “multiple times” with a rock.<\/p>\n

Additional charges in the 10-count indictment include aggravated battery, kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault with intent to rape, obstructing or hindering a person making an emergency telephone call and tampering with evidence. The latter charge alleged that he “knowingly concealed” evidence — a jacket and gloves — involving the offense of malice murder.<\/p>\n

He was also charged with a peeping tom offense. The indictment alleges that on the same day as Riley’s murder, he spied through the window of a different person who lived in an apartment on campus. The judge last month also denied a motion seeking to sever that charge from the case.<\/p>\n

Ibarra was denied bond following his arrest on Feb. 23 and is being held at the Clarke County Jail.<\/p>\n

Police have said they do not believe Ibarra — a migrant from Venezuela who officials said illegally entered the U.S. in 2022 — knew Riley and that this was a “crime of opportunity.” Her death has become a\u00a0rallying cry<\/a>\u00a0for immigration reform from many conservatives, including now President-elect Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Courtesy of Augusta University (ATHENS, Ga.) — The suspect\u00a0accused of killing\u00a022-year-old nursing student Laken Riley on the University of Georgia’s campus has waived his right to a jury trial. The judge granted the defense’s motion for a bench trial for the suspect, Jose Ibarra, during a hearing in Athens-Clarke CountyRead More →<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,31,2],"tags":[273,271,276,274,270,123,275,133,124,272,102,103],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107811"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107811\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}