Laken Riley murder: Defense, prosecution weigh whether Jose Ibarra’s brothers can testify at trial

ATHENS, Ga. — Defense attorneys for Jose Ibarra, the suspect accused of murdering Augusta University student Laken Riley on the University of Georgia campus in February, will continue bringing witnesses forward Wednesday, possibly including Ibarra’s two brothers.

The Athens-Clarke County court heard from 29 witnesses over three days in Ibarra’s murder trial, which began Nov. 15, with prosecutor Sheila Ross highlighting evidence ranging from Ibarra’s DNA on key pieces of evidence to security camera footage and cellphone data placing him at the location of the crime at the time Riley was killed.

“On Feb. 22, Jose 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 campus,” Ross said in her opening statement Nov. 15.

Ibarra, 26, is charged with 10 counts in Riley’s murder and a “peeping Tom” incident on the morning of Feb. 22. Prosecutors argued the peeping Tom incident is related to the attack against Riley, 22, because it happened just over an hour before she was killed and showed Ibarra’s alleged intent to prey on women the morning of Feb. 22.

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Witnesses testified that DNA matching Ibarra’s was found in Riley’s fingernails and on a jacket with Riley’s hair recovered from a dumpster near his apartment complex.

Ibarra’s defense attorneys have so far argued that evidence against the Venezuelan national is circumstantial, and they have pointed fingers toward Jose’s brothers, Diego and Argenis Ibarra, who share similarities with Jose in their DNA makeup. Diego was also seen wearing the same black, Adidas-style hat prosecutors say Jose was wearing Feb. 22 when police questioned Diego Feb. 23. DNA matching Riley’s was found on that same hat.

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“If that happens, and the presumption of innocence is respected, there should not be enough evidence to convince you beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Ibarra is guilty of the crimes charged,” defense attorney Dustin Kirby said Monday.

Argenis and Diego have been subpoenaed to testify for the defense, but whether they actually can is still up in the air after some back and forth between the defense, the prosecution and Judge Patrick Haggard Tuesday afternoon when Diego appeared in court to testify. 

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Diego’s defense attorney argued to Jose’s attorney, John Donnelly, that Diego should not testify at Jose’s trial, Donnelly said. Judge Haggard advised that the court should not proceed with Diego’s testimony, and then the prosecution and defense met to discuss the matter behind closed doors.

The defense’s second witness, Stephanie Slaton, lived in an apartment next to the Ibarra family at the time of Riley’s murder. She testified that she spoke to Diego Ibarra Feb. 23, the day after Riley died, while “a lot” of police were walking around in the area of the complex. 

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Diego Ibarra suggested he did not know why police were walking around and asked Slaton what had happened. Slaton, in turn, explained that someone had “passed away” behind their apartment complex. Two police officers then approached them and asked what they were talking about. Slaton answered them, and they walked away, she said.

Slaton then testified that Diego, whom she had a sexual relationship with at the time, used a translator app to tell her in English, “If you tell them, I will tell them you did it, and then I will kill you too.”

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On cross-examination, Slaton admitted she could not speculate what Diego meant by “if you tell them” because he had been unfamiliar with Riley’s murder and the reason police were walking around their apartment building. She also admitted she had been angry at Diego for having relations with another woman.

On Monday, the second day of Ibarra’s trial, the court heard a recorded prison phone call between Ibarra and his wife, Layling Franco, that was played aloud and translated by an FBI analyst who spoke fluent Spanish. Judge Haggard on Tuesday ruled that the translated call could not be submitted as evidence.

“She said that she thinks it’s crazy that they don’t have anyone else’s DNA. They only have his. And she says she doesn’t understand how someone can see someone dying and not calling [sic] 911,” FBI analyst Abeisis Ramirez testified in court Monday while translating the call for the prosecution.

Ibarra and his brothers were in the United States illegally from Venezuela at the time of their respective arrests after Riley’s murder. Diego is charged with green card fraud after showing police a fake ID on Feb. 23, and Argenis has been placed on an immigration hold. 

Ibarra illegally crossed into the United States through El Paso, Texas, in September 2022 and was released into the U.S. via parole, ICE and DHS sources previously told Fox News.

The three brothers lived in an apartment building less than a half mile from the on-campus park where Riley was running the morning of Feb. 22. Their apartment complex backed up to a shortcut that leads to running trails along UGA’s campus where Riley was found dead in a wooded area, partially naked and covered in leaves, that afternoon. She died of blunt force trauma and asphyxiation, according to a Georgia Bureau of Investigation medical examiner.

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ICE previously confirmed to Fox News Digital that Jose Ibarra had been arrested by the New York Police Department a year after he entered the U.S. in August 2023 and was “charged with acting in a manner to injure a child less than 17 and a motor vehicle license violation.”

Diego Ibarra, who worked briefly at a UGA cafeteria before his arrest in February, had ties to a known Venezuelan gang in the U.S., Tren de Aragua, according to federal court documents.