ATHENS, Ga. — A judge has denied a request by Jose Antonio Ibarra for a new trial in the murder of Laken Riley.
Ibarra, from Venezuela, was convicted at a bench trial in November 2024. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
On Feb. 22, 2024, Riley went for a jog on UGA’s intramural fields and never returned. Police found her unconscious in a wooded area behind the fields. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
In the wake of Riley’s death, U.S. Congress and President Donald Trump approved and signed a new law, named in her honor, to combat unauthorized immigration into the United States.
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Ibarra’s legal team filed motions for a new trial, which were heard on Jan. 30 in Athens-Clarke County Superior Court.
On Tuesday, the judge denied the request for a new trial on grounds of the evidence presented at the 2024 trial was not contested.
The court said Ibarra’s attorneys filed for a new trial over allegations that the court erred by denying a motion to continue the trial and a motion to bar evidence retrieved from Ibarra’s phone.
Ibarra’s attorneys also challenged the evidence, suggesting that his brother Diego Ibarra killed Riley, but citing previous DNA evidence, the court was not convinced.
The judge gave Ibarra’s team 30 days to file another appeal.
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