Jose Antonio Ibarra, a 26-year-old illegal alien and member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, was convicted on charges of malice murder and felony murder in the death of Georgia student Laken Riley and sentenced to life in prison without parole on Wednesday.
The 22-year-old University of Georgia student was killed the morning of Feb. 22 in the woods at the campus, where she was struck in the head with a rock and asphyxiated during an attempted sexual assault.
Ibarra waived his right to a jury trial and elected to have a bench trial, where Judge H. Patrick Haggard was the sole person responsible for a verdict and sentencing.
Prosecutors called the evidence against the Ibarra “overwhelming,” while the defense raised the theory that the defendant could have been an accomplice but not the killer during closing arguments in his trial.
The Athens courtroom became extremely emotional as the verdicts were read, with Riley’s grieving family, including her father and stepfather, attending the proceedings and even revealing her last journal entry, a moving soliloquy to her hypothetical future husband.
Ibarra was sentenced to two life sentences plus 27 years in prison over charges that included felony murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault with intent to rape, aggravated battery, kidnapping, obstruction of a 911 call, and tampering with evidence, among others.
The murder trial also revealed Ibarra’s connections to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan transnational gang that a leaked U.S. Army document warned was gaining an alarming foothold in major U.S. cities.
The trial also revealed the extent of Ibarra’s ease of moving around within the country, when Ibarra’s roommate gave testimony that Ibarra was given a taxpayer-funded flight from New York to Georgia.
Gov. Brian Kemp (R-Ga.) praised the ruling, telling Fox News, “I’m glad that justice was served, and it was swift and severe.”
Please see my statement regarding today's guilty verdict: pic.twitter.com/fXcUyBNn1T
— Governor Brian P. Kemp (@GovKemp) November 20, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump also issued a statement proclaiming “JUSTICE FOR LAKEN RILEY!”
JUSTICE FOR LAKEN RILEY! The Illegal who killed our beloved Laken Riley was just found GUILTY on all counts for his horrific crimes. Although the pain and heartbreak will last forever, hopefully this can help bring some peace and closure to her wonderful family who fought for Justice, and to ensure that other families don’t have to go through what they have. We love you, Laken, and our hearts will always be with you. It is time to secure our Border, and remove these criminals and thugs from our Country, so nothing like this can happen again!
JUSTICE FOR LAKEN RILEY! The Illegal who killed our beloved Laken Riley was just found GUILTY on all counts for his horrific crimes. Although the pain and heartbreak will last forever, hopefully this can help bring some peace and closure to her wonderful family who fought for…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 20, 2024
Though prosecutors got the maximum sentence they sought, some believe life in prison doesn’t go far enough given the severity of Ibarra’s crime and his brazen disregard for the law upon entering the U.S.
Hayden Daniel of The Federalist writes:
Though some may commend the American legal system for this outcome, in truth this verdict represents a gross miscarriage of justice. The severity of the crime, coupled with the fact that the perpetrator is an illegal alien and the victim was an American citizen, demands the death penalty.
He violated our nation’s sovereignty by entering illegally, leeched off the public dole for years, and then brutally murdered an American citizen. His punishment? He gets to stay in this country for the rest of his life on the taxpayer’s dime. That’s not justice; that’s a true consummation of President Joe Biden’s immigration philosophy.
Riley’s murder ignited a political firestorm of criticism of the Biden-Harris administration’s immigration policies despite the media and Democrats’ attempts to cover up the fact Ibarra entered the United States illegally in 2022 and had numerous run-ins with law enforcement before he brutally attacked Riley.
Even after Ibarra’s sentencing, ABC News claimed there was no link between the Biden administration’s open-border policies and rising violent crime in the U.S., and even blamed Trump for Riley’s murder.
WATCH: Before Laken Riley's killer is even returned to his jail cell, ABC tells its viewers "there is very little evidence indicating a connection between immigration and violent crime."
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) November 20, 2024
And wait for it … blames Trump for her murder.
You don't hate the MSM enough. pic.twitter.com/DFasoi8kml