Laken Riley Case Returns To Court As Killer Seeks New Trial

Illegal immigrant Jose Ibarra was found guilty in 2024 of the murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley — but Friday could mark the beginning of a new trial for the convicted killer.

On Friday, a judge will hear oral arguments from Ibarra’s attorneys claiming that their client suffers from a “congenital deficiency” that could make him “incapable of preparing a defense and standing trial.” They also contend he lacked the mental capacity to knowingly waive his right to a trial by jury.

Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard, who rendered the verdict after Ibarra waived his right to a jury trial, will hear the post-conviction arguments. The oral arguments begin about one year after the Laken Riley Act was passed.

President Donald Trump signed the Laken Riley Act into law in 2025. The legislation requires the Department of Homeland Security to detain illegal immigrants for crimes including burglary, theft, larceny, and shoplifting. The legislation applies to illegal immigrants who have been charged with, arrested for, convicted of, or even just admitted to the crimes. If the act had been passed before Laken’s death, under the act, the federal government would have been required to detain Ibarra for a shoplifting citation earlier that year.

If Haggard grants Ibarra a new trial, competency would become the central issue. If Ibarra is found incompetent, he could be committed to a mental health facility for treatment aimed at restoring competency. Discharge from a psychiatric ward could occur if the ward determines he is not considered a danger to himself or others. Haggard is expected to issue a decision within ninety days of hearing the arguments.

If Haggard grants Ibarra a retrial, it would mean revisiting graphic evidence and testimony, forcing Riley’s family and the university community to relive the case in open court.

Jessica Moore was a senior at the University of Georgia when Ibarra took Riley’s life. She told The Daily Wire, “The feeling that loomed over our campus that day was one that students and the victim’s family should never have to feel again, and a new trial would bring it right back.”

CBS News reported that during crime scene testimony, members of Riley’s family and others left as body-cam footage played from the officer who found Riley’s body in a wooded area.

Ibarra’s prosecutor, Sheila Ross, stated: “[Ibarra] put on a black hat, a hoodie-style jacket, and some black kitchen-style disposable gloves, and he went hunting for females on the University of Georgia’s campus.”

She added, “When Laken Riley refused to be his rape victim, he bashed her skull in with a rock repeatedly.”

Laken’s death caught national attention when authorities confirmed Jose Ibarra entered the country illegally. At a campaign rally, then-presidential candidate Trump said that Riley “would be alive today if Joe Biden had not willfully and maliciously eviscerated the borders of the United States.”

During Ibarra’s trial, Laken’s mother Allyson Phillips said, “There’s no end to the pain, suffering or loss. On that horrific day, my precious daughter was attacked, beaten, and shown no mercy. … This sick, twisted, evil coward showed no respect of Laken’s life.”