Migrant gets life sentence for Laken Riley murder highlighted by Trump

GEORGIA – A Venezuelan migrant was convicted on Nov 20 and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for murdering Ms Laken Riley, a Georgia nursing student whose killing became a rallying cry for US President-elect Donald Trump as he attacked illegal immigration during his campaign.

Jose Ibarra, 26, who entered the US illegally, was found guilty of murder and other charges by Judge Patrick Haggard in Athens-Clarke County Superior Court. As the judge read the verdict aloud, Ms Riley’s family members and friends sobbed while Ibarra sat stony-faced.

Judge Haggard heard the evidence and rendered the verdict after Ibarra waived his right to a jury trial.

Trump and other Republicans often cited Ms Riley’s murder in claiming falsely that migrants who crossed the southern border illegally were responsible for a wave of violent crime, part of the President-elect’s argument for stricter border policies and aggressive deportations.

“JUSTICE FOR LAKEN RILEY! The Illegal who killed our beloved Laken Riley was just found GUILTY on all counts for his horrific crimes,” Trump wrote on his social media site Truth Social.

Prosecutors said Ibarra encountered Ms Riley, 22, on a wooded trail while she was out running on Feb 22 and killed her after she resisted his efforts to rape her. She was a nursing student at Augusta University in Athens.

In victim impact statements delivered in court ahead of the sentencing, Ms Riley’s family and friends described her as a caring, selfless and devout person who loved running and was committed to serving others.

“Laken had a beautiful and bright future,” her mother, Ms Allyson Phillips, told the court. “She was smart, hard-working, kind, thoughtful, and most importantly, she was a child of God.”

In her closing statement earlier on Nov 20, prosecutor Sheila Ross called the evidence against Ibarra “overwhelming”, including DNA under Ms Riley’s fingernails that the authorities linked to Ibarra, scratches on his body and video footage of a man matching his description throwing a bloodied jacket into a dumpster soon after the murder.

Defence attorneys argued that the evidence was circumstantial and could not rule out another attacker.

Ms Riley’s case made national headlines in March during President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, when firebrand US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene interrupted his speech to demand that he “say her name”.

Mr Biden went off-script to mention Ms Riley, whom he described as an innocent woman killed by an “illegal”. Republicans criticised him for appearing to mispronounce Ms Riley’s first name, while Mr Biden later apologised for using the word “illegal” to refer to a person.

Mr Biden, then the Democratic nominee for president, dropped out of the race in July and was replaced by Vice-President Kamala Harris, who lost earlier in November to Trump.

Trump has vowed to pursue mass deportations of immigrants after he is sworn into office in January. REUTERS