ATHENS, Ga. — Tren de Aragua gang member Jose Ibarra was sentenced to life without parole Wednesday for the vicious murder of promising nursing student Laken Riley in a case that ignited a national firestorm over the Biden administration’s open border policy and coddling of illegal immigrants.
The sentencing was meted out a little more than two hours after Judge Patrick Haggard announced the guilty verdict on all charges on the fourth day of the Athens, Georgia, murder trial, in which 29 witnesses were called by the prosecution.
The illegal migrant was described as a “sick, twisted, and evil coward” in series of heartbreaking victim impact statements from Riley’s loved ones before the sentencing. He reacted to the harsh words with cold detachment as a translator whispered them into his ear.
