Laken Riley trial highlights Biden-era immigration crisis as mom of slain cheerleader awaits justice
A Georgia judge has reached a verdict for Laken Riley murder suspect Jose Ibarra. Prosecutors say the Venezuelan national killed Riley while she was jogging on UGA's campus.
ATHENS, Ga. — "Angel mom" Jacqueline Medina, whose daughter Lizbeth Medina was allegedly murdered by a Mexican illegal immigrant in December 2023, on Wednesday joined a chorus of voices responding to the guilty verdict and sentencing for Laken Riley murderer Jose Ibarra, a chorus that included President-elect Donald Trump and his allies.
Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard found Ibarra, 26, guilty of 10 counts in connection with Riley's Feb. 22 murder. Those charges included one count of malice murder, three counts of felony murder, one count of kidnapping, one count of aggravated assault with intent to rape, one count of aggravated battery, one count of hindering a 911 call, one count of tampering with evidence and one count of being a "peeping Tom."
Haggard sentenced Ibarra to life in prison without the possibility of parole after hearing victim impact statements from Riley's friends and family on Wednesday afternoon.
"I am deeply moved to see that Laken Riley’s family has received some measure of justice," Medina told Fox News Digital of the verdict in a statement. "While no verdict or sentencing can ever erase the pain of losing someone so young and full of promise, we hope this brings them a small sense of closure in their ongoing grief."
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Medina said Riley and her daughter "had so much in common – they both dreamed of becoming nurses, were vibrant and full of potential, and were both victims of senseless violence."
"Their stories remind us of the devastating consequences these acts of cruelty leave behind," Medina said. "At the same time, I cannot help but reflect on our own fight for justice. Our case is being held behind closed chambers, and we are left in the dark about critical developments. Just yesterday, we learned about the motion for an insanity plea, which has now delayed the court process by an additional two months. Our trial, originally set for December 2, 2024 – nearly a year after Lizbeth’s murder – has been pushed back even further."
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Medina feels she has been left in the dark throughout the legal process, and the recent delay has compounded her family's "frustration and heartbreak."
"Our families deserve transparency, and this case should receive the same priority and urgency as Laken Riley’s and Jocelyn Nungury’s grieving families[.] We all share the same pain and the same goal: to see justice served for our loved ones," Medina said. "Just as Laken’s family has received a step toward closure, we too long for justice for Lizbeth. Through all of this, we are united in our sorrow, our resilience, and our support for one another as we navigate these difficult times together."
Politicians also reacted to the verdict in statements to Fox News Digital on Wednesday.
"I am happy with the verdict but it is really too little, too late," Tom Homan, President-elect Trump's pick to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under his administration, said in a statement. "The life of Laken was tragically taken by a monster that should never have been here. This is on Biden, Harris and Mayorkas."
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The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital.
Brandon Judd, a Border Patrol agent and president of the National Border Patrol Council, said he is "happy the family got closure, but closure will not bring Laken back."
"Laken’s murder falls directly on the shoulders of President Biden. He put politics over the safety of U.S. citizens, and Laken paid for his lust for power with her life. While the verdict is welcome, Laken should be alive today," Judd said.
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Phil Holloway, a Georgia-based criminal defense attorney and former assistant district attorney, said, "Laken Riley died at the hands of a monster."
"Joe Biden and the open-borders industrial complex, including leftist sanctuary city policies, led her right into his hands. Her blood is on Joe Biden's hands. He should have been impeached over this. It's not too late for that either," Holloway said. "This should send the message loud and clear to sanctuary cities around the nation that we will not sacrifice another Laken Riley at the [altar] of wokeism."
Holloway added that Ibarra was sentenced to the "absolute maximum possible prison term," adding that the "evidence was overwhelming, and this conviction will not be overturned on appeal."
In their victim impact statements read in the courtroom on Wednesday, Riley's family remembered her as a loving young woman who was dedicated to her faith and her future career as a nurse.
"Your honor, on February 22nd of 2024, our family and friends were given a life sentence without a chance of parole. Jose Ibarra took no pity on my scared, panicked and struggling child," Riley's mother, Allyson Philips, said Wednesday. "There is no end to the pain, suffering and loss that we have experienced or will continue to endure on that horrific day. My precious daughter was attacked, beaten and shown no mercy. She fought for her life and dignity and to save herself from being brutally raped. This sick, twisted and evil coward showed no regard for Laken or human life."
Philips described her daughter as "smart, hardworking, kind, thoughtful, and most importantly, a child of God." She "had a personal relationship with Jesus, and she loved being the hands and feet of his hands and feet in this world," Philips said.
"She shared her love for our Lord with others through her mission trips, working with elderly at the nursing homes and through her nursing career," Philips said. "Laken was an amazing friend, sister, niece, daughter and granddaughter. Anyone who knew her knew about her loving heart. Laken's life was not the only life taken on that day that Jose Ibarra attacked her. The life of her family and friends was taken, too. None of us will ever be the same."
In a gut-wrenching journal entry that Riley wrote in December 2023, according to her stepfather, John Philips, the 22-year-old wrote, "To my future husband, I want you to know that I'm thinking about you and working every day to become the best wife I can be … and focusing on God and what he defines as a faithful Christian wife, so that I can best embody those characteristics."
Prosecutors said Ibarra, a 26-year-old illegal immigrant from Venezuela, attacked and killed Riley, a 22-year-old Augusta University nursing student, while she was jogging along trails near Lake Herrick on the University of Georgia campus in Athens on the morning of Feb. 22.
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"On Feb. 22, Jose Ibarra put on a black hat, a hoodie-style jacket and some black kitchen-style disposable gloves, and he went hunting for females on the University of Georgia campus," prosecutor Sheila Ross said in her opening statement on Nov. 15. Riley's sister teared up upon hearing Ross' first statements.
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Ross said Ibarra saw Riley running along the frequented trials on UGA's campus just after 9 a.m. on Feb. 22, attacked her, dragged her 64 feet into a wooded area and repeatedly beat her head with a rock, killing her.
"When Laken Riley refused to be his rape victim, he bashed her head in with a rock repeatedly," Ross said on Nov. 15.
Riley attempted to call 911 at 9:11 a.m., but the call was disconnected. Prosecutors also said Ibarra's fingerprint was on the bottom of Riley's phone, where one might end a phone call.
"It is no coincidence that his thumbprint is on her phone," Ross said Wednesday.
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Ibarra and his brothers, also in the United States illegally from Venezuela, lived in an apartment building less than a half mile from the on-campus park where Riley was running.
The defendants' attorney, Dustin Kirby, argued in his opening statement that evidence would not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Ibarra killed Riley. He said it would take "gymnastics" for the prosecution to argue Ibarra killed Riley with what he described as "circumstantial evidence."
"If that happens and the presumption of innocence is respected, there should not be enough evidence to convince you beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Ibarra is guilty of the crimes charged," Kirby said on Nov. 15.
The Athens-Clarke County court heard from 29 of the prosecution's witnesses over three days, with Ross highlighting evidence ranging from Ibarra's DNA on key pieces of evidence to security camera footage and cellphone data placing him at the location of the crime at the time Riley was killed.
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Witnesses testified that DNA matching Ibarra's was found in Riley's fingernails and on a jacket with Riley's hair recovered from a dumpster near his apartment complex.
Ibarra's defense attorneys argued that evidence against the Venezuelan national is circumstantial, and they have pointed fingers toward Jose's brothers, Diego and Argenis Ibarra, who share similarities with Jose in their DNA makeup. Diego was also seen wearing the same black Adidas-style hat that prosecutors say Jose was wearing on Feb. 22 when police questioned Diego on Feb. 23. DNA matching Riley's was found on that same hat.
"The facts and the evidence in this case should leave you with some reasonable doubt," Kaitlyn Beck said in her closing argument on Wednesday, adding later that "while the evidence in this case is voluminous, it is circumstantial."
Much of the defense's arguments suggested Diego may have had something to do with Riley's murder. Beck said in her closing statement that "it's more than possible that one brother's DNA would get on another brother's clothes."
Watch: Laken Riley, Jose Ibarra seen on trail camera footage day of murder
"I agree with the state, but Laken Riley was physically fit. She was fast. She could have outrun [Jose]. But there's another suspect in this case who was taller, who was more physically fit, who was wearing sneakers on the day of the murder. And that is Diego Ibarra," Beck said.
Prosecutors, however, noted that security camera footage from a dining hall on UGA's campus, where Diego worked, showed Diego arriving and leaving work on Feb. 22.
Argenis and Diego have been subpoenaed to testify as witnesses for the defense, but the court ultimately decided not to allow their testimony because they are currently involved in their own criminal cases. Jose's defense attorney, John Donnelly, mentioned that Diego's defense attorney advised that he should not testify during Jose's trial while he is currently charged with green card fraud.
UGA Police Chief Jeffrey Clark previously described the murder as a "crime of opportunity" during a February press conference.
Ibarra illegally crossed into the United States through El Paso, Texas, in September 2022 and was released into the U.S. via parole, ICE and DHS sources previously told Fox News.
His older brother, Diego Ibarra, who worked briefly in a UGA cafeteria before his arrest in February, is charged with green card fraud and had ties to a known Venezuelan gang in the U.S. called Tren de Aragua, according to federal court documents.
ICE previously confirmed to Fox News Digital that Jose Ibarra had been arrested by the New York Police Department a year after he entered the U.S. in August 2023 and was "charged with acting in a manner to injure a child less than 17 and a motor vehicle license violation."
Fox News' Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
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