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Murder trial for suspect accused of killing Laken Riley expected to begin Nov. 18

Written by ABC Audio ALL RIGHTS RESERVED on August 4, 2024

(ATHENS, Ga.) — The murder trial for the suspect accused of killing 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley on the University of Georgia’s campus is expected to start in mid-November, a judge said Friday, as the defense is seeking to move the high-profile case to another county.

Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard said jury selection would likely begin on Nov. 13, with the trial starting on Nov. 18.

The suspect, Jose Ibarra, appeared in the Athens-Clarke County courtroom for the hearing Friday morning.

His defense is seeking to move the trial out of Athens-Clarke County, arguing in a motion filed on Thursday that it “will not be possible to find an impartial jury to hear the matter.” They also cited the “extensive media coverage” of the case in the county.

Haggard preliminarily gave prosecutors within 10 days of the motion’s filing to respond to the request and said he would like to have a motions hearing sometime in late September or early October.

The defense said the schedule sounded reasonable. Prosecutors said they would like to wrap up the trial proceedings before Thanksgiving for the jurors, which Haggard said was “not lost on me.”

Ibarra, 26, was indicted by an Athens Clarke County grand jury on malice murder and felony murder and other offenses in May. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

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.

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.

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.

In a separate motion filed on Thursday, the defense sought to sever that charge from the indictment, arguing that the offense is against a different alleged victim and would “create significant prejudice.”

Ibarra was denied bond following his arrest on Feb. 23 and is being held at the Clarke County Jail.

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 rallying cry for immigration reform from many conservatives.