Jose Ibarra, the Venezuelan illegal immigrant charged in Laken Riley’s February murder, is scheduled to appear in court Friday for a hearing to argue that certain evidence, including cellphone data and DNA, should not be allowed in his trial.
Ibarra’s defense previously filed motions to suppress evidence from cellphones, which his attorneys say was obtained illegally by law enforcement, and testimony from a witness who performed DNA testing during Riley’s autopsy, alleging that the results “did not exclude Defendant, but also did not exclude another known individual associated with the case.”
The hearing will take place about two weeks before Ibarra’s trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 18 in Athens-Clarke County, Georgia.
Ibarra, 26, is accused of attacking and killing Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student at Augusta University, while she was out for a run along dirt trails on the University of Georgia’s campus in Athens on the morning of Feb. 22.
In May, a Georgia grand jury indicted Ibarra on counts of malice murder, two counts of kidnapping with bodily injury, two counts of aggravated assault with intent to rape, two counts of aggravated battery, obstructing or hindering a person from making a 911 call, tampering with evidence and being a “peeping Tom.”
The peeping Tom charge stems from another Feb. 22 incident during which the suspect allegedly went to a residence on UGA’s campus, where he “peeped through” a window and “spied upon” a university staff member, the indictment alleges.