ATHENS, Ga. — An Athens-Clarke County judge approved a mental health evaluation for the man convicted of killing nursing student Laken Riley on the University of Georgia campus.
Jose Ibarra was found guilty of Riley’s murder in November and sentenced to life in prison without parole. His attorneys filed a motion for his appeal in December.
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As part of the appeal process, court records show Ibarra’s attorneys requested a mental health evaluation in June. Judge H. Patrick Haggard signed off on the order on July 3, according to the court records.
The evaluation will examine if Ibarra was “capable of understanding the nature and object of pretrial proceedings” when he waived his right to a jury trial for a bench trial. It will also determine if Ibarra is capable of understanding what will go into his appeal and assisting his attorneys with it.
The order did not say when the evaluation will be completed.
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On Feb. 22, 2024, Riley, 22, was found dead after going for a jog, on UGA’s intramural fields and never returned. Police found her unconscious and injured in a wooded area behind the fields.
She was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy determined that Riley died of blunt force trauma to her head and asphyxia.
Investigators arrested Ibarra, a Venezuelan immigrant who was in the country illegally.
Ibarra’s trial took place in November 2024. The prosecution laid out its case in three days and called to the stand Riley’s roommate, a woman who lived with Ibarra and more than a dozen law enforcement officers.
The defense called a police officer, a jogger and one of Ibarra’s neighbors to the stand.
After the closing arguments, Haggard announced a guilty verdict on all charges: one count of malice murder; three counts of felony murder; and one count each of kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault with intent to rape, aggravated battery, obstructing an emergency call, evidence tampering and being a peeping Tom.
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