Laken Riley’s Illegal Migrant Killer Demands New Trial

The illegal migrant convicted of killing Georgia nursing student Laken Riley is requesting a new trial, accusing the court of committing a number of errors before his guilty verdict.

Attorneys for Jose Ibarra, a Venezuelan national who entered the United States unlawfully before murdering Riley as she was out for a run near a college campus, filed a motion for a retrial on Monday with the Athens-Clarke County Superior Court, according to court documents. In the two-page request, Ibarra’s lawyers claim that his verdict was “contrary to law” and “contrary to the evidence,” and accused the court of committing other errors that “necessitate a new trial.”

“Defendant reserves the right to amend and supplement this Motion after a full and thorough review of the facts and circumstances attendant to the trial of this case,” the court document stated. However, the motion did not identify or detail what alleged errors took place during the trial.

Ibarra on Nov. 20 was found guilty of malice murder, felony murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault with intent to rape, aggravated battery, obstructing or hindering a 9-1-1 call, tampering with evidence and being a peeping tom. The judge handed him a life sentence without the possibility of parole — capping off an end to a trial that ignited a national debate on illegal 🛂Immigration-related crime in the U.S.

Riley — a nursing student living in Athens, Georgia at the time — was abducted and murdered