Jose Ibarra: Conviction, New Trial Motion, and the Laken Riley Act

Jose Ibarra is the Venezuelan national convicted of murdering Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student killed while jogging near the University of Georgia in Athens on February 22, 2024. A judge found him guilty on all ten counts in a bench trial and sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The case reshaped a national argument over immigration enforcement and produced the Laken Riley Act, signed into law in January 2025.

What Happened on February 22, 2024

Riley, a student at Augusta University who was living and taking classes on UGA’s Athens campus, texted her mother at about 8:55 a.m. to say she was going for a run. She set off on a trail near the university’s intramural fields.¹

Around 9:10 a.m., data from Riley’s Garmin smartwatch showed she was forced to stop abruptly. She triggered an emergency SOS call to 911, but no words were exchanged.² Prosecutors described a “long” and “fierce” struggle that lasted about four minutes on the trail before the watch’s position shifted roughly 65 feet into the woods. At 9:28 a.m., the watch recorded that Riley’s heart had stopped.¹

When Riley’s shared location did not move, her roommates went looking, found one of her AirPods on the trail, and called police. Sergeant Kenneth Maxwell found her body at 12:38 p.m., about 65 feet off the trail in a wooded area.³ A medical examiner attributed her death to the “combined effects of blunt force head trauma and asphyxia.” Riley had eight injuries to the left side of her skull and one above the right temple, producing a complex skull fracture and fatal brain bleeding.¹ Prosecutors said Ibarra “bashed her skull in with a rock.”⁴

The Evidence Against Ibarra

The case against Ibarra rested on a dense combination of DNA, fingerprint, video, and digital evidence. A trail camera captured a man walking toward the intramural fields in clothes matching a Snapchat selfie Ibarra had posted that morning, including a distinctive black Adidas cap. At 9:44 a.m., surveillance footage showed Ibarra discarding a bloodied jacket and a pair of disposable gloves near his apartment.¹

The DNA analysis was decisive. Ibarra’s DNA was found under Riley’s right fingernails, with the probability of matching another person calculated at one in ten billion. Riley’s DNA was on the discarded gloves, with a match probability of one in 500 octillion. Both Riley’s and Ibarra’s DNA were on the jacket pulled from a dumpster near his home.¹ Ibarra’s thumbprint was also on Riley’s iPhone, in the swipe-to-unlock area.³ When police interviewed Ibarra the next day, they documented scratches on his arms, hands, neck, and back.

Prosecutors introduced a separate incident from earlier that morning. A UGA graduate student testified that someone peered through her apartment window and tried to open her door, wearing clothes matching Ibarra’s selfie. Prosecutors argued the encounter showed Ibarra’s “state of mind” and that he was “hunting” for women on campus.⁵

Ibarra’s Background and Prior Encounters With Law Enforcement

Ibarra entered the United States illegally near El Paso, Texas, in September 2022. According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he was arrested by Customs and Border Protection and then “paroled and released for further processing.” He and his wife were later transported to New York.⁶

In September 2023, the New York City Police Department arrested Ibarra and charged him with acting in a manner to injure a child under 17 and a motor vehicle license violation, after his wife’s five-year-old son rode on the back of a moped without a helmet.⁷ ICE said Ibarra “was released by the NYPD before a detainer could be issued,” meaning the agency lost its window to take him into federal custody.⁶

About a month later, Ibarra and his brother Diego were cited for misdemeanor shoplifting at a Walmart in Athens for stealing food and clothing. Because they received a citation rather than a formal arrest, no immigration status check was performed.⁷

The Trial, Verdict, and Sentence

Ibarra was indicted on ten counts in Athens-Clarke County Superior Court. On November 12, 2024, he waived his right to a jury trial, telling the court that the decision was “freely, knowingly and intelligently signed and considered.”⁸ The case proceeded as a bench trial before Judge H. Patrick Haggard.

On November 20, 2024, Judge Haggard found Ibarra guilty on all ten counts:⁹

One count of malice murder
Three counts of felony murder
One count of kidnapping with bodily injury
One count of aggravated assault with intent to rape
One count of aggravated battery
One count of obstructing an emergency call
One count of tampering with evidence
One count of Peeping Tom

Announcing the verdict, Judge Haggard said he was “required to set aside my emotions… That’s the same thing we tell jurors. That’s the way I have to approach this, and I did.” He accepted the prosecution’s characterization of the evidence as “overwhelming and powerful.”¹⁰ The judge sentenced Ibarra to life in prison without the possibility of parole.¹¹

Motion for a New Trial

Ibarra’s defense filed a motion for a new trial on December 2, 2024. Post-conviction attorneys James Luttrell and David Douds argued that Ibarra’s trial counsel was denied sufficient time to review DNA evidence processed through TrueAllele software, that cellphone evidence was obtained without proper warrants, and that Ibarra’s constitutional rights were violated when the court declined pre-trial delays.¹²¹³

A hearing took place in January 2026. On March 9, 2026, Judge Haggard denied the motion. He ruled that the evidence of guilt was “overwhelming and powerful” and noted that the defense had received the initial TrueAllele DNA report in May 2024 but did not consult an expert until October 2024, leaving more than a month between receiving raw DNA data and the start of trial. He found that trial counsel had “effectively articulated flaws with TrueAllele” in her closing argument. Because appellate counsel chose not to call the trial attorney as a witness, the judge said he would “presume trial counsel’s actions are reasonable and a matter of trial strategy.”¹²

Mental Competency Evaluation

Luttrell and Douds also filed a motion arguing that Ibarra suffers from a “congenital deficiency” that may have rendered him “incapable of preparing a defense and standing trial.” They said his original attorney never requested a competency evaluation and questioned whether Ibarra had been capable of intelligently waiving his right to a jury trial.¹⁴

On July 3, 2025, Judge Haggard ordered a mental health evaluation by the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, to be conducted with a Spanish-language interpreter. The evaluation was directed to assess whether Ibarra understood the pretrial proceedings when he waived his jury right, whether he understood the trial itself, and whether he can currently assist his attorneys on appeal.¹⁵ Prosecutor Sheila Ross said there had been “no challenges or concerns” about Ibarra’s competency before trial but did not oppose the evaluation.¹⁴

The Laken Riley Act

Supporters of stricter enforcement pointed to the chain of releases before the murder: the border encounter that ended in parole, the NYPD arrest that ended before ICE could issue a detainer, and the shoplifting citation in Athens that triggered no immigration check. Senator Deb Fischer called Riley’s death “entirely preventable.”¹⁶

The Laken Riley Act was led in the Senate by Senator Katie Britt and passed with bipartisan support, with Senator John Fetterman becoming the first Democrat to cosponsor it. President Trump signed it into law on January 29, 2025, making it the first bill of his second presidency to become law.¹⁷¹⁸

The law directs federal immigration authorities to detain and deport people without legal status who are charged with minor theft or shoplifting, assault of a law enforcement officer, or crimes causing death or serious bodily injury. It also gives states legal standing to sue federal officials who fail to enforce immigration laws. An ICE memo estimated first-year implementation costs at $26 billion and warned the act was “impossible to execute with existing resources,” citing potential shortages of detention space and limited cooperation from local jurisdictions.¹⁷

Diego Ibarra Was Not Connected to the Murder

Jose Ibarra’s older brother, Diego Ibarra, appears in coverage of the case but was not charged in Riley’s death. Police approached him on February 23, 2024, because he matched the suspect description, and during that encounter he produced a counterfeit U.S. Permanent Resident Card. A federal grand jury indicted him on two counts of possession of a fraudulent document, and he pleaded guilty on July 15, 2024. On March 19, 2025, U.S. District Judge Tilman E. Self III sentenced him to 48 months in federal prison, above the federal sentencing guidelines, with transfer to ICE for deportation afterward. Federal prosecutors said in court filings that Diego Ibarra was “likely affiliated with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua” based on his tattoos, hand signs, and clothing.¹⁹²⁰

1
ABC News. Laken Riley Case Murder Trial Texts
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ABC7 NY. Laken Riley Case: Prosecutors Share How 911 Call, Smartwatch Left Clues
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NBC News. Prosecutors Say DNA, Fingerprints Show Jose Ibarra Killed Laken Riley
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BBC. Jose Ibarra Found Guilty of Laken Riley Murder
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ABC News. Laken Riley Suspect Guilty of Murder
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WRDW. Laken Riley Murder Suspect Had Prior Criminal Background, Illegally Entered U.S.
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11Alive. Jose Ibarra: Accused Killer of Laken Riley and the Georgia Immigration System
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ABC News. Laken Riley Murder Trial: Jury Waived
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WSB-TV. Laken Riley Murder Trial: Judge Reaches Verdict on Jose Ibarra
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ABC7 NY. Laken Riley Verdict: Jose Ibarra Convicted of Murder
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CNN. Jose Ibarra Laken Riley Murder Trial
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Court TV. Judge Denies New Trial for Convicted Killer Jose Ibarra
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CBS News Atlanta. Judge Ruling on New Trial for Jose Ibarra in Laken Riley Murder Conviction
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Court TV. Judge Orders Evaluation for Laken Riley’s Killer Jose Ibarra
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U.S. News. Judge Orders Mental Evaluation for Venezuelan Man Convicted of Killing Laken Riley
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U.S. Senator Deb Fischer. Responding to Illegal Immigration: The Laken Riley Act and Sarah’s Law
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NPR. Trump Signs Laken Riley Act
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U.S. Department of Homeland Security. President Trump Signs Laken Riley Act Into Law
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U.S. Department of Justice. Three Venezuelans Sentenced to Prison for Possessing Fake Green Cards
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Fox 5 Atlanta. Diego Ibarra, Brother of Laken Riley Murder Suspect, Pleads Guilty to Fake Green Card