Manslaughter trial in Laken Riley’s death underway. Here’s what you need to know: NPR

A supporter holds a sign with a picture of Laken Riley before former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally March 9 in Rome, Ga.

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Mike Stewart/AP

During In the last election cycle, the killing of 22-year-old college student Laken Riley drew national attention and fueled an emotional and politically charged debate about immigration and crime after authorities said the suspect was an undocumented immigrant.

Now the trial of the suspect, 26-year-old José Antonio Ibarra, has begun in Athens, Ga.

He faces multiple charges, including felony murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, obstructing an emergency call, tampering with evidence and being a peeping Tom.

Ibarra waived his right to a jury trial, meaning Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard will be the one to decide Ibarra’s fate. The prosecution has chosen not to seek the death penalty. Instead, court documents show they intend to seek a sentence of life in prison without parole.

During opening statements Friday, prosecutor Sheila Ross accused Ibarra of killing Riley when she “denied being his rape victim.” Ross said Ibarra’s DNA was left under the student’s fingernails and his thumbprint was found on Riley’s phone screen. Meanwhile, defense attorney Dustin Kirby described the evidence against Ibarra as circumstantial.

What happened

Riley was a nursing student at Augusta University. She transferred there from the University of Georgia, which does not offer a nursing program. Even after the move, she continued to be an active member of her sorority at UGA.

On February 22, the police went searching for Riley after her friend reported that she had not returned from her morning run. Later that day, officers discovered Riley’s body in a wooded area near Lake Herrick on UGA’s campus. According to authorities, Riley was unconscious with visible injuries. When emergency medics arrived, they pronounced Riley dead at the scene. Her cause of death was blunt force trauma.

The next day, Ibarra was arrested in connection with Riley’s death. UGA Police Chief Jeff Clark said at the time that Ibarra’s arrest was based on input from the community, campus video footage and physical evidence. Clark added that there was no evidence that Ibarra, who is not a U.S. citizen or UGA student, knew Riley.

How Riley’s death became a focal point in the debate about immigration and crime

According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Ibarra, a Venezuelan, entered the United States illegally. near El Paso, Texas, where he was apprehended by Border Patrol agents in 2022. He later became released on parole. Ibarra was previously charged in New York City with acting in a manner that injures a child under 17 and a driver’s license violation.

When these details emerged, Georgia Republicans were quick to blame Riley’s death on the Biden administration’s immigration policies.

In March, Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene President Biden’s State of the Union address and yelled, “Say her name,” referring to Riley.

Biden responded by saying that Riley “was an innocent woman who was killed by an illegal.” The president added: “To her parents, I say my heart goes out to you, having lost children myself, I understand.” He also urged Republican lawmakers to reconsider supporting a bipartisan immigration bill that failed in early February. It aimed to strengthen border security as well as hire more Border Patrol agents and immigration judges.

House Republicans also passed the Laken Riley Act, which would, among other things, require ICE to detain undocumented people accused of committing theft-related crimes like shoplifting. The legislation was sponsored by Georgia Republican Rep. Mike Collins.

President-elect Donald Trump also talked about Riley during his nomination acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention.

“Another American life was stolen by a criminal alien released by this administration,” Trump said in July. “Tonight, America, this is my promise. I will not allow these murderers and criminals into our country.”

Throughout his campaign, Trump repeatedly talked about immigrants as criminals. But several studies, including those from Stanford University and the CATO Institute, a libertarian think tank, indicate that immigrants commit fewer crimes than the American-born.

Recent studies of New York Times and The Marshall Project also found that between 2007 and 2016, there was no link between undocumented immigrants and an increase in violent crime or property crime in those communities.