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American judge found on Wednesday guilty of the murder of young nursing student Laken Riley to immigrant Jose Ibarra, whose case was used by current President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign in his rhetoric about illegal immigrants and crime.

After a non-jury trial that began last Friday, the 26-year-old Venezuelan immigrant was found guilty of ten criminal chargesamong them the murder of a university student, and a few hours later he was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.

In one by one, Athens County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard found Ibarra guilty on all charges, including murder, kidnapping, aggravated assaultinterfering with, among other things, a 911 call and tampering with evidence, and finally convicted him.

Ibarra, who did not testify during the short trial, listened to the judge as an interpreter translated the court’s decision into his ear and amid the sobs of the family and friends of the 22-year-old victim, whose murder occurred on the Georgia campus last February.

The prosecutor’s office did not demand the death penalty, but He insisted on life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Riley’s killing brought national attention to the Republican debate over immigration. including Trump, who accused the Joe Biden administration of failing in this regard.

The former President (2017-2021) welcomed this decision and emphasized in his statement that “It’s time to secure our border. and drive these criminals and thugs out of our country so that nothing like this happens again.”

Trump and other Republicans They met Riley’s parents Tobefore an election rally in March and they used the case to demand a tough stance on illegal migrants.

The defense did not rule out that the brother was the killer

Prosecutor Sheila Ross said during closing arguments that Riley fought off her attacker and that this fight gave them “all the physical evidence necessary to convict him.”

The lawyers, in turn, argued that the evidence does not link Ibarra to murder beyond a reasonable doubt, and they stated that the accused’s brother, Diego Ibarra, could be the killer.

The defense stated that They couldn’t rule out that Diego was to blame. or that “Jose was an accomplice to murder.” In this sense, he noted that the DNA submitted was susceptible to contamination because Both brothers shared clothes and a bed.

Riley’s body was found covered in leaves. a little off the trails at the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens where I ran. After Jose Ibarra’s arrest, which occurred one day after the crime, the immigrant pleaded not “guilty.”

The case also prompted Georgia Republican lawmakers approve a new immigration law in less than two months it requires police departments and sheriffs to check the immigration status of detainees and notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) if they are undocumented.

According to the prosecution, before beating the university student to death with a rock until she was mutilated and strangled, the suspect tried to rape her.

Today the defendant was also found guilty of being a “peeping tom cat” because spying and invasion of privacy in college dorms the same day as Riley’s crime.

Ibarra crossed the border into Mexico in 2022. as part of numerous groups of migrants who arrived in the country to claim asylum, and like many of them, he was temporarily released while his process continued.

His brother, 29 years old, He was also arrested for presenting a false resident card (“green card”). during police questioning in the midst of the investigation into Riley’s murder. He pleaded guilty last July and is awaiting sentencing.

(EFE)