Tren de Aragua gangster Jose Ibarra sentenced to life in prison for vicious murder of nursing student Laken Riley
ATHENS, Ga. — Tren de Aragua gang member Jose Ibarra was sentenced to life without parole Wednesday for the vicious murder of promising nursing student Laken Riley in a case that ignited a national firestorm over the Biden administration’s open border policy and coddling of illegal immigrants.
The sentencing was meted out a little more than two hours after Judge Patrick Haggard announced the guilty verdict on all charges on the fourth day of the Athens, Georgia, murder trial, in which 29 witnesses were called by the prosecution.
The illegal migrant was described as a “sick, twisted, and evil coward” in series of heartbreaking victim impact statements from Riley’s loved ones before the sentencing. He reacted to the harsh words with cold detachment as a translator whispered them into his ear.
“The pain I feel is unexplainable every day I am reminded my daughter is gone … I will never hold her hand or feel her hug,” her dad, Jason Riley, told the court during the emotional hearing. “Our world has been torn apart. I am haunted by the fear she felt in those final moments. I hope justice is served for her.”
Her mom, Allyson Phillips, said, “Jose Ibarra took no pity on my scared, panicked and struggling child.”
“There is no end to the pain, suffering and loss,” she added, her voice quivering. “On that horrific day, my precious daughter was attacked, beaten and shown no mercy.
“She fought for her life in dignity, and to save herself from being brutally raped. This sick, twisted, and evil coward showed no regard for Laken and human life. We’re asking the same be done to him,” she said, raising her voice at times.
The defense called only three witnesses before resting its case Wednesday morning. Ibarra and his brother and fellow gang member, Diego, did not testify.
Prosecutor Sheila Ross recounted the facts of the case for about 45 minutes in her closing argument, calling the evidence against Ibarra “overwhelming.”
In its closing argument, the defense tried to pin the vicious killing on Diego Ibarra, arguing Jose was the wrong body type to be the killer.
“Jose was short, he was chubby,” defense attorney Kaitlyn Beck said as she made a last ditch attempt to sow reasonable doubt before the judge made his ruling on the verdict.
“She was fast, she could have outrun him,” Beck added. “But there’s another suspect in this case who is taller, who is more physically fit.”
But Ross shot that down, saying Diego would need “magic pixie dust” or “Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak” to have pulled off the murder.
Haggard returned to the bench just 19 minutes after the sides presented their closing arguments to deliver the verdicts.
Sobs filled the gallery and Riley’s family held hands as Haggard read off the guilty verdicts for felony murder, malice murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault with intent to rape, and Peeping Tom charges.
Ibarra remained motionless and expressionless in the courtroom as he was convicted on all counts.
Riley was brutally killed Feb. 22 as she jogged on the University of Georgia campus, not far from Augusta University, where the well-liked 22-year-old was pursing her nursing degree.
Ibarra, 26, attempted to sexually assault the coed but ended up smashing her head with a rock and asphyxiating her when she fiercely battled back.
Prosecutors said Riley valiantly “fought for her life” for a staggering 18 minutes, gouging deep scratches into Ibarra’s neck and wrists before the much larger man finally overpowered her.
Those scratches — as well as his DNA later found under her fingernails — wound up being key pieces of evidence that helped convict her killer.
Riley’s savage death at the hands of an illegal immigrant garnered national attention, coming as the US is in the grips of a full-blown migrant crisis, in which some 12 million people have streamed across the border under the Biden-Harris administration’s watch.
Ibarra ended up in Athens courtesy of a taxpayer-funded flight provided by the administration, traveling from Kennedy Airport in Queens to Atlanta, Ga., in September 2023, New York City sources said.
The flight — which took place less than six months before he hunted Riley down as she jogged — was paid for out of federal funds under a Biden administration program that provided one-way flights for migrants to anywhere in the world.
In court Tuesday, it was revealed that the slain coed’s mom, Allyson Phillips, missed her daughter’s final text and phone call, which came just minutes before she was attacked.
“Good morning, about to go for a run. Are you free to talk?” the Georgia nursing student texted her mother at 8:55 a.m. Feb. 22 — before then trying her mom by phone less than 10 minutes later, at 9:03 a.m., when she didn’t hear back.
Phillips missed the call — which was made 7 minutes before the 22-year-old was attacked.
Right after Riley’s last call to her mother, her phone locked — and it wouldn’t be unlocked again until authorities did so after retrieving it from the slaying scene.
Judge Patrick Haggard briefly spoke before handing down his sentence, referencing the tremendous grief of Laken Riley’s family and friends.
“I acknowledge there is no such thing as closure. There will be no closure,” he said, calling the senseless killing a “tragedy.”
He then asked Ibarra to stand, who looked down at the ground as the judge rattled off his punishment for each of the 10 counts.
Ibarra did not change facial expression as the years piled up, totaling two life sentences without the possibility of parole, plus 27 years, with all sentences to be served consecutively.
President-elect Donald Trump acknowledged Ibarra’s sentencing with a social media post shortly after the guilty verdict was read.
“JUSTICE FOR LAKEN RILEY! The Illegal who killed our beloved Laken Riley was just found GUILTY on all counts for his horrific crimes,” Trump wrote on X.
“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,” he continued.
“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!”
