Murder Trial for Man Charged With Killing Laken Riley Is Set to Begin

The case was swept up in the debate over immigration after investigators said the perpetrator was a migrant from Venezuela who entered the U.S. illegally.

A murder trial is set to begin on Friday for the man charged with killing Laken Riley, a nursing student whose death in Georgia became a flashpoint in the debate over immigration after investigators said the perpetrator was an undocumented immigrant.

After her killing in February, Ms. Riley was invoked by Donald J. Trump, then a presidential candidate, as he called for mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, and by President Biden in his State of the Union address.

In a courtroom in Athens, Ga., on Friday, prosecutors will zoom in on the harrowing details of a violent encounter that deeply unsettled the city, which is home to the University of Georgia. Ms. Riley’s body was found along a wooded trail on the university campus.

Prosecutors said that Ms. Riley, who was 22, was confronted on the trail by Jose Antonio Ibarra, a 26-year-old migrant from Venezuela. He is accused of blocking her as she tried to call 9-1-1 for help and of pulling up her clothes with the intention to rape her, according to an indictment. Investigators said that Mr. Ibarra strangled Ms. Riley and hit her over the head repeatedly with a rock.

Mr. Ibarra was arrested on Feb. 22, the day after the attack, and has remained in custody without bail. He has pleaded not guilty to the array of charges he faces, including malice murder and aggravated assault. The charges also include a single “peeping Tom” count; prosecutors said he peered into the windows of someone else’s campus apartment on the day Ms. Riley was killed.

On Tuesday, the day before jury selection was scheduled to start, Judge H. Patrick Haggard of State Superior Court agreed to a request by Mr. Ibarra’s lawyers to hold a bench trial, meaning the judge — rather than a jury — will weigh the evidence and determine whether Mr. Ibarra is guilty.