EXCLUSIVE – Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp says justice was served after a judge gave the 26-year-old migrant from Venezuela who was convicted of murdering Laken Riley a life sentence.
“I’m glad that justice was served, and it was swift and severe,” the governor said in a Fox News Digital interview on Wednesday soon after a judge in Athens County, Georgia, convicted and then sentenced Jose Antonio Ibarra, a migrant who had entered the U.S. illegally.
Kemp said the conviction and sentencing were “no surprise” and emphasized that Riley’s murder was “a really tragic set of circumstances. Tragic for that family and I’ve certainly had them in my thoughts and prayers. I know that people in Georgia and around the country have.”
JUDGE ANNOUNCES SENTENCE IN LAKEN RILEY MURDER TRIAL
Family members and friends of Laken Riley react as Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard announces the verdict in Jose Ibarra’s trial at Athens-Clarke County Superior Court, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024, in Athens, Georgia. (Hyosub Shin/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)
The 22-year-old Riley, a nursing student, was attacked in February while running on a trail on the University of Georgia campus in Athens. Ibarra was charged in connection with the killing a day later.
The judge, H. Patrick Haggard of State Superior Court in Athens-Clarke County, rather than a jury, decided the case following a request from Ibarra’s lawyers after they unsuccessfully worked to move the case out of Athens.
A translator assists defendant Jose Ibarra with his headphones during his trial at the Athens-Clarke County Superior Court, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)
Riley’s killing was repeatedly spotlighted by President-elect Trump during this year’s presidential campaign, as he argued for the mass deportation of millions of undocumented migrants in the country.
Kemp, taking aim at President Biden’s border security actions, argued that “the policies are outrageous. They’ve gotten people killed not only in Georgia but around the country and that’s why our people elected Donald Trump to be our president, or at least a big reason for that. So we look forward to working with the administration like we did in their first term to secure the border and make sure these things aren’t happening in our local communities.”
Laken Riley, a nursing student, was found dead near a lake on the University of Georgia campus on Feb. 22. (Laken Riley/Facebook)
And Kemp emphasized that “it is just literally heartbreaking for this family, for her fellow students that she was in school with, for her friends, for local communities and really for the whole state.”
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Kemp was interviewed by Fox News Digital in Marco Island, Florida, minutes after he was elected chair of the Republican Governors Association.
Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in New Hampshire.
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