Laken Riley murder suspect Jose Ibarra appears in court ahead of trial

Jose Ibarra, the Venezuelan national charged with the February killing of Augusta University student Laken Riley on the University of Georgia campus, is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday ahead of his trial next week.

Ibarra, 26, is accused of attacking and murdering Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student, as she jogged along busy pedestrian paths on the UGA campus the morning of Feb. 22.

Ibarra and his brothers, who also came to the U.S. illegally from Venezuela, lived in an apartment building on the edge of the campus park where Riley ran. Ibarra allegedly murdered the student nurse in what UGA Police Chief Jeffrey Clark called a “crime of opportunity.”

In May, a Georgia grand jury indicted Ibarra on charges of first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping with intent to commit bodily harm, two counts of aggravated assault with intent to commit rape, two counts of aggravated assault, and obstructing or impeding a person from making an emergency call. Tampering with evidence and being a peeping Tom.

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The Peeping Tom charge stems from another incident on February 22, in which the suspect allegedly committed… Residence on the UGA campus in AthensHe “looked through a window” and “spied on” a university employee, the indictment says.

Ibarra recently tried to have the “Peeping Tom” charge dropped from his case, but prosecutors argued that the two incidents were “inextricably linked” and a judge in Athens-Clarke County ultimately decided not to withdraw the charge.

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Laken Riley poses for a photo posted on Facebook. Riley, a nursing student at the University of Georgia, was found dead near a lake on campus on Thursday, February 22, 2024. (Allyson Phillips/Facebook)

The judge also allows DNA and cell phone evidence that Ibarra's defense sought to suppress.

The 26-year-old suspect is due back in court for his trial on November 18th. Jury selection for his trial is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, November 13th.

Jose Ibarra was arrested on February 23 in connection with the February 22 murder of Laken Riley in Athens, Georgia. (Clarke County Sheriff's Office)

Ibarra entered the United States illegally El Paso, Texas, in September 2022 and was paroled into the United States, ICE and DHS sources previously told Fox News.

His older brother, Diego Ibarra, is charged with green card fraud and had ties to a well-known Venezuelan gang in the United States called Tren de Aragua, according to federal court documents.

A general view of the area where Laken Riley's body was found on Saturday, February 24, 2024, near Lake Herrick on the University of Georgia campus in Athens, Georgia. Jose Antonio Ibarra was charged with Riley's murder. (Mark Sims for Fox News Digital)

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Riley's death was widely mentioned during the 2024 presidential election as Republicans and Democrats debated the impact of record levels of illegal immigration across the U.S.-Mexico border over the past four years.

Rachel Morin of Maryland, Jocelyn Nungaray of Texas, Lizbeth Medina of Texas, Ruby Garcia of Michigan and Maria Gonzalez of Texas are women who were allegedly killed by illegal immigrants in the last two years.