After a last-minute legal maneuver, the trial for the murder of Laken Riley, an illegal immigrant suspect, commenced.

On Friday, Jose Ibarra, the suspect accused of murdering Laken Riley, an Augusta University student, on the University of Georgia campus in February, will be tried in court.

On the morning of Feb. 22, a 26-year-old illegal immigrant from Venezuela, Ibarra, allegedly attacked and killed Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student, while she was jogging along trails near Lake Herrick on UGA's campus.

On Tuesday, Judge Patrick Haggard granted Ibarra a bench trial instead of a jury trial, meaning evidence will be presented in court only to him.

"Philip Holloway, a Georgia-based criminal defense attorney, previously stated to Planet Chronicle Digital that he is fast-tracking himself to life without parole by doing this."

The evidence that will be presented during Ibarra's trial includes fingerprints, DNA, cellphone data, a jacket and gloves found in a dumpster near Ibarra's apartment complex, and a "peeping Tom" incident reported on UGA's campus the same morning Riley was killed.

Riley lived near an apartment building where Ibarra and his brothers, who are also in the United States illegally from Venezuela, resided.

According to UGA Police Chief Jeffrey Clark, the aspiring nurse's murder was a "crime of opportunity."

In May, a Georgia grand jury charged Ibarra with malice murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault with intent to rape, aggravated battery, obstructing or hindering a person from making a 911 call, tampering with evidence, and being a "peeping Tom."

The peeping Tom charge against the suspect resulted from a February 22 incident where the suspect allegedly visited a UGA campus residence in Athens and observed a university staff member through a window, as stated in the indictment.

In September 2022, Ibarra entered the United States illegally through El Paso, Texas, and was subsequently released via parole, according to sources from ICE and DHS.

Diego Ibarra, his older brother who briefly worked in a UGA cafeteria before his arrest in February, is accused of green card fraud and had connections to the Tren de Aragua, a known Venezuelan gang in the U.S., according to court documents.

Jose Ibarra was arrested by the New York Police Department a year after entering the U.S. in August 2023 and was charged with injuring a child under 17 and violating his motor vehicle license.

Planet Chronicle' Adam Shaw contributed to this report.