Attorneys for Jose Ibarra have asked the judge to move his case out of Athens-Clarke County.
Ibarra is accused of killing nursing student Laken Riley, whose body was found on the UGA campus earlier this year. His attorneys argue that finding an impartial jury in Athens-Clarke County would be impossible, given the extensive media coverage the cases 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 filing.
Ibarra, who is from Venezuela, entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 and was allowed to stay to pursue his immigration case. Republicans blamed Riley’s death on President Joe Biden and his border policies.
Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard said during the brief hearing that he was planning to start jury selection on Nov. 13 and then proceed with the trial the following week.
He gave prosecutors 10 days to respond to the request for a change of venue, which was filed on Thursday.
A grand jury indicted Ibarra in May. He pleaded not guilty.
This story comes to Now Habersham through a reporting partnership with GPB News, a non-profit newsroom covering the state of Georgia.
