The accused man in killing of a nursing student whose body found in the campus of the University of Georgia has been pleaded not guilty on Friday to murder and other charges. A grand jury charged Jose Ibarra with murder including kidnapping and murder of Laken Hope Riley in February. Ibarra was accused of hitting the student of the Augusta University College of Nursing in the head and intent to rape her.
Ibarra from Venezuela, has entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 which became the national debate over immigration and this killing became the flashpoint in the former. Now President Joe Biden is being blamed by the republicans and former President Donald Trump for killing of Riley due to Biden and his border policies.
After Riley’s death, a Georgia bill is passed which requires the jailers to check the immigration status of people in their custody and to impose immigration laws on them. During signing of the bill, Brian Kemp, governor of Georgia said, “became one of our top priorities following the senseless death of Laken Riley at the hands of someone in this country illegally who had already been arrested even after crossing the border.”
Riley was found missing in February and was searched by the police when her friend told that she did not retuned from the morning walk and at that time police said that this killing is appeared to be a random attack. Ibarra of age 26 was arrested the next day when her body found near running trials on February 22, he was held in the Athens-Clarke County Jaild without any bond since then.