Defense attorneys seek to move trial of Laken Riley’s accused killer out of Athens

By Joe Johnson

Attorneys for the man accused of murdering nursing student Laken Riley Jose have asked the judge to move his case out of Athens-Clarke County.

Jose Antonio Ibarra, a 26-year-old illegal migrant from Venezuela, is accused of killing Riley during a sexual assault on a University of Georgia running trail the morning of February 22.

His attorneys filed a motion for a change of venue, arguing that finding an impartial jury in the county where the crime occurred would be impossible, given the extensive media coverage the case has received.

A 2013 Georgia court decision found that a change of venue is proper in cases where media coverage is “‘unduly extensive, factually incorrect, inflammatory, or reflective of an atmosphere of hostility,'” according to the motion.

During a status hearing Friday morning in Clarke County Superior Court, Judge H. Patrick Haggard scheduled Ibarra to stand trial beginning on November 18.

Laken Riley

An indictment alleges that during a sexual assault, Ibarra killed Riley by bludgeoning her head with a rock and strangling her.

The indictment charges Ibarra with malice murder, three counts of felony murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault with intent to commit rape, aggravated battery, interference with a 911 emergency call, tampering with evidence, and peeping Tom.

The peeping charge stems from Ibarra allegedly peering through the window of an apartment at University Village, a student housing complex next door to where Ibarra lived at Argo Apartments on South Milledge Avenue. That incident happened earlier in the morning of Riley’s murder.