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(NewsNation) — Opening statements volition statesman Friday successful the proceedings of the antheral prosecutors accidental killed 22-year-old Georgia nursing pupil Laken Riley.
Jose Ibarra, a Venezuelan national, is charged with murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault, artillery and tampering with evidence. If convicted, helium could look beingness successful situation without the anticipation of parole. Prosecutors person said they won’t prosecute the decease penalty.
Ibarra waived his close to a assemblage proceedings earlier this week and alternatively opted for a proceedings by judge.
The lawsuit became fodder for the nationalist statement implicit immigration, but Riley’s household has said they don’t privation her decease exploited arsenic a governmental wedge.
The proceedings is expected to proceed into adjacent week.
What we cognize astir the case
The probe into Riley’s decease began erstwhile a friend reported her missing on Feb. 22 aft she didn’t instrumentality location from a run.
Soon after, officers discovered her body on the University of Georgia field successful a forested area.
The University of Georgia Police Department arrested Ibarra in transportation to Riley’s decease the pursuing day.
Prosecutors allege helium bushed the Augusta University pupil with an entity and dragged her assemblage to a secluded country disconnected the jogging path.
Police accidental the onslaught was random.
People stitchery to mourn the nonaccomplishment of Laken Riley during a vigil for the Augusta University College of Nursing pupil astatine the Tate Plaza connected the University of Georgia field successful Athens, Ga., Monday, Feb. 26, 2024. Riley, a nursing pupil astatine Augusta University's Athens campus, was recovered dormant Thursday, Feb. 22, aft a roommate reported she didn't instrumentality from a greeting tally successful a wooded country of the UGA field adjacent its intramural fields. Students besides gathered to wage tribute to a UGA pupil who committed termination past week. (Joshua L. Jones/Athens Banner-Herald via AP)Fueling migration concerns
Riley’s decease sparked wide outrage implicit migration policies successful the United States.
Immigration and customs enforcement rapidly revealed that Ibarra and his member were surviving successful the state without due documentation.
Politicians and media outlets utilized Riley’s decease to bolster mendacious claims of a “migrant transgression wave” — an alleged improvement that statistic don’t support.
“I’d alternatively her not beryllium specified a political, however you accidental — it started a tempest successful our country,” Riley’s begetter Jason Riley told NBC News successful March. “And it’s incited a batch of people.”
Multiple studies, including 1 published by the National Academy of Sciences, suggest U.S. citizens are much than doubly arsenic apt to beryllium arrested for convulsive crimes, compared to the apprehension complaint of radical successful the state illegally.
“It makes maine angry,” Jason Riley said. “I consciousness similar they’re conscionable utilizing my daughter’s sanction for that. And she was overmuch amended than that, and she should beryllium raised up for the idiosyncratic that she is. She was an angel.”
