Jose Ibarra’s defense team began presenting its case Tuesday in the trial over the murder of Laken Riley, calling two witnesses whose testimony was intended to cast doubt on the prosecution’s timeline of events the day Riley was killed and to suggest Ibarra’s brother could have been responsible.
The defense’s first witness, Joseph Clementi, said he was out running on the same trail as Riley the day of the murder. He testified that he told police he saw a man on the trail who caught his attention because “he was not in typical athletic gear” like other people in the area that morning.
“The individual was wearing very dark clothing, and they seemed to be wandering aimlessly,” he testified Tuesday.
Clementi’s testimony seemed to be aimed at calling the prosecution’s timeline into question. Prosecutors have said Ibarra, after he killed Riley, was captured on video tossing a jacket with her blood on it into a dumpster near his home around 9:44 a.m. Clementi testified that he saw the man on the running trail sometime between 9:46 a.m. and 9:48 a.m.
Under cross-examination, Clementi admitted he could not identify the person he saw. He also testified that he told police the person he saw may have been wearing khaki pants, in contrast with what Ibarra is alleged to have been wearing that day.
Ibarra, 26, a Venezuelan citizen, is accused of killing Riley, 22, on the morning of Feb. 22 while she was out for a jog near the University of Georgia campus in Athens, in a case that became a centerpiece of the national immigration debate. He is charged with three counts of felony murder, malice murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault with intent to rape and “peeping Tom.” If he is convicted, he faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The prosecution, which pointed to a variety forensic, digital and video evidence to make its case, rested Tuesday afternoon after it called a parade of forensic experts, who testified about the collection and testing of DNA and other evidence. The medical examiner who performed an autopsy on Riley’s body also testified.
Ibarra’s defense attorneys have called the evidence circumstantial and argued that someone else could have killed Riley, specifically Ibarra’s older brother Diego.
To buttress that argument, the defense called a woman who lived in the same apartment complex with the brothers. She testified Tuesday that Diego Ibarra told her he would “kill you, too,” if she talked to police.
Stephanie Slaton said she and Diego Ibarra were sitting outside their apartments on the night of Feb. 22, talking about Riley’s killing earlier in the day, as police swarmed the area and briefly spoke to them. After the officers left, she said, Diego Ibarra, who is not fluent in English, spoke into his phone in Spanish using a translation app and then showed her what she believed to be a message that had been translated to English.
The message, she testified, said: “If you tell them, I will tell them you did it and then I will kill you, too.”
However, under cross-examination, the woman conceded that she had been drinking that day and the next when she talked to law enforcement officials. She also admitted to having a sexual relationship with Diego Ibarra and to being upset that he may have been involved with someone else. She also said that she was the one who told Diego Ibarra about the murder that night and that he appeared not to know what had happened.
The defense also called Diego Ibarra to testify Tuesday, but he did not take the witness stand because his attorney in a federal immigration case was not present. It is not clear whether he will testify Wednesday.
