Mother of Laken Riley gets emotional in courtroom as suspect learns proposed trial date

The mother of murdered Augusta University student Laken Riley got emotional Friday at a hearing where illegal immigrant suspect Jose Ibarra learned his proposed trial date of Nov. 18. 

Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard set the proposed trial date after Ibarra, who entered the U.S. illegally from Venezuela, pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges in her death during his arraignment in late May. Haggard is anticipating jury selection to start on Nov. 13 and hopes to have the trial concluded by Thanksgiving. 

Laken Riley’s mother, Allyson Phillips, and stepfather, John Phillips were in court Friday for the status hearing. Allyson Phillips was sniffling as she entered the courtroom. Special prosecutor Sheila Ross approached her and placed her hand on Allyson’s knee to comfort her and they briefly spoke before the hearing started.  

Phillips later left the courtroom crying while holding a box of tissues. 

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SUSPECT IN LAKEN RILEY’S MURDER INDICTED 

Ibarra is charged with malice murder, felony murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, hindering an emergency telephone call, tampering with evidence, and spying. Prosecutors will seek a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. 

Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student, was attacked on Feb. 22 while she was out for a run along dirt trails on the University of Georgia campus in Athens.  

Judge Haggard will likely schedule a hearing to discuss motions sometime in September or early October. Public defender Kaitlyn Beck said the defense also received a batch of evidence two weeks ago and another batch of evidence this morning. 

Ibarra is accused of causing Riley’s death by inflicting blunt-force trauma to her head and “asphyxiating her in a manner unknown to jurors,” an indictment states.  

LAKEN RILEY’S FATHER SAYS SUSPECT ‘MIGHT NOT HAVE BEEN HERE’ IF BORDER WAS SECURE 

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

The suspect is also accused of going to an apartment on UGA’s “University Village Housing Building ‘S,’” where he “peeped through” a window and “spied upon” a university staff member on the same day he allegedly killed Riley, the indictment alleges. 

Ibarra lived in an apartment building that sits on the edge of the on-campus park where Riley was running, allegedly murdered the aspiring nurse in what UGA Police Chief Jeffrey Clark described as a “crime of opportunity.”  

Allyson Phillips, Laken Riley’s mother, center, gets emotional while sitting beside Riley’s stepdad John Phillips inside the Athens-Clarke County Superior Courthouse on Friday, May 31, 2024, where Jose Ibarra pleaded not guilty to 10 counts in Riley’s death.  (Pool)

The scenic loop Riley ran that morning is easily accessible from behind Ibarra’s apartment complex. It is a five-minute walk from Ibarra’s door to the approximate scene where Riley was found dead. 

Fox News’ Chelsea Torres and Bill Melugin contributed to this report.