Judge hears testimony from DNA expert as man convicted of killing Laken Riley seeks new trial

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — A judge considering whether to grant a new trial to the Venezuelan man convicted of killing Georgia nursing student Laken Riley heard testimony Friday from a DNA expert retained by his attorneys to analyze evidence in his murder case.

Jose Ibarra’s trial attorneys had asked the judge to delay a hearing set a few weeks before his November trial after the expert told them she would need six weeks to review the data and complete a report.

The move would have pushed back the trial. Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard ultimately proceeded with the trial as scheduled.

The expert, Ruth Ballard, said during Friday’s hearing that she could not rule out the possibility that Ibarra’s DNA was transferred onto a jacket and other evidence she reviewed indirectly.

Under questioning by a prosecutor, Ballard acknowledged she had not finished a complete review of the case. She also acknowledged writing that a “reasonable explanation” for the crime lab findings in the case was that Ibarra’s DNA got onto the evidence when he killed Riley.

Ibarra, dressed in a white jumpsuit, sat at a table with his attorneys.

Haggard did not rule immediately on Ibarra’s request to vacate his guilty verdict and life sentence and grant him a new trial. He gave attorneys another month to file legal arguments.

Haggard found Ibarra guilty of murder and other charges in November after Ibarra waived his right to a jury trial. He sentenced Ibarra to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Prosecutors decided before trial not to seek the death penalty.

Ibarra, 28, had entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 and was allowed to stay while he pursued his immigration case. Riley’s killing in February 2024 heightened tensions in the national debate over immigration.

The first bill President Donald Trump signed upon taking office last year, the Laken Riley Act, was inspired by the 22-year-old’s killing. It requires the detention of people who are in the country without authorization and are accused of theft and violent crimes.

Prosecutors said Ibarra encountered Riley while she was running on the University of Georgia campus in Athens on Feb. 22, 2024, and killed her during a struggle. Riley was a student at Augusta University College of Nursing, which has a campus in Athens, about 70 miles (115 kilometers) east of Atlanta.

Ibarra’s lawyers argue that his constitutional rights were violated by the judge’s denial of the request for a delay and by the admission of cellphone evidence the defense sought to exclude.

Under Georgia law, a notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days of a conviction becoming final, which is the date of sentencing or the date of the denial of a motion for a new trial, whichever is later. The filing of a motion for a new trial effectively extends the deadline to file an appeal.

Ibarra’s trial attorneys filed a motion for a new trial within weeks of his conviction. New lawyers have since taken over his case and filed an amended motion for a new trial earlier this month.

Before trial, Ibarra’s lawyers had asked the judge not to allow evidence stemming from the search of two cellphones the state believed belonged to Ibarra. They argued that the search warrants used to seize and search the phones were not valid because police lacked probable cause to obtain the warrants. Haggard rejected those arguments.

Ibarra’s trial attorneys had also asked the judge to exclude evidence and expert testimony based on the use of TrueAllele Casework, software that is used to analyze DNA.

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Associated Press writer Kate Brumback in Atlanta contributed to this report.