Yesterday brought not only a quick conviction, but also a quick sentencing to LWOP, in the Georgia state bench trial of the man who brutally murdered Laken Riley. This AP story provides some basics:
The Venezuelan man convicted of killing Georgia nursing student Laken Riley has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in a case that became a flashpoint in the national debate over immigration. Jose Ibarra was charged with murder and other crimes in Riley’s February death, and Wednesday’s guilty verdict was reached by Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard. Ibarra, 26, had waived his right to a jury trial, meaning Haggard alone heard and decided the case.
Haggard found Ibarra guilty of all 10 counts against him: 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.
Prosecutors said Ibarra encountered Riley while she was running on the University of Georgia campus on Feb. 22 and killed her during a struggle. Riley, 22, was a student at Augusta University College of Nursing, which also has a campus in Athens, about 70 miles (115 kilometers) east of Atlanta.
Riley’s family and friends tearfully remembered her and asked Haggard to sentence Ibarra to the maximum penalty. Her mother, Allyson Phillips, said there is “no end to the pain, suffering and loss we have experienced and will continue to endure.” “This sick, twisted and evil coward showed no regard for Laken or human life. We are asking that the same be done for him,” she told the judge.
Riley’s younger sister, Lauren Phillips, a freshman at the University of Georgia, talked about the pain of living without her “favorite person” and “biggest role model” and the effect her sister’s death has had on her. “I cannot walk around my own college campus because I’m terrified of people like Jose Ibarra,” she said….
Defense attorney John Donnelly asked Haggard to give Ibarra two consecutive life sentences but to allow him the eventual possibility of parole. Prosecutor Sheila Ross asked the judge for the maximum sentence, saying Riley’s family should never have to worry about Ibarra being released. “You can’t bring her back and it’s horrible. What you can do is give comfort with your sentence,” Ross said.
Haggard ultimately gave Ibarra the maximum sentence he could impose, including life in prison without the possibility of parole on the malice murder count.
Riley’s killing added fuel to the national debate over immigration when federal authorities said Ibarra illegally entered the U.S. in 2022 and was allowed to stay in the country while he pursued his immigration case. President-elect Donald Trump and other Republicans blamed Riley’s death on the policies of Democratic President Joe Biden….
The trial began Friday, and prosecutors called more than a dozen law enforcement officers, Riley’s roommates and a woman who lived in the same apartment as Ibarra. Defense attorneys called a police officer, a jogger and one of Ibarra’s neighbors on Tuesday and rested their case Wednesday morning.
This Newsweek article, headlined “Why Laken Riley’s Killer Isn’t Facing Death Penalty in Georgia,” explains that the “Western Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office announced before Ibarra’s trial that it would not seek the death penalty. District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez, a progressive Democrat, faced criticism from Republicans over the decision.” I have seen this criticism being expressed in a number of commentary pieces today:
Via The Federalist, “Not Giving Laken Riley’s Killer The Death Penalty Is A Miscarriage Of Justice“
Via Fox News, “Laken Riley’s murderer deserves the death penalty“
Via the National Legal and Policy Center, “Failure to Seek Death Penalty in Laken Riley Case is ‘Miscarriage of Justice’“
These reactions and claims that justice has not been served by a sentence less than death for this murderer leads me to the question that is the title of this post. I suspect that clever lawyers at the Department of Justice could find a hook for a federal prosecution of this horrific murder, and the dual sovereignty doctrine clearly allows the federal government to pursue its distinct interests after Georgia’s prosecution. So I believe the US Justice Department could at least try to pursue a capital prosecution in this case, and thus the real question is whether it might decide it should.
The Justice Department’s so-called “Petite Policy” generally suggests limits on federal prosecutions after state prosecutions based on whether there is a “substantial federal interest” that was not vindicated by a state prosecution. Though I am fairly certain the current Biden Administration will not see an interest in a follow-up federal prosecution just to seek a capital verdict, I suspect whatever new leaders Prez-Elect Donald Trump gets into DOJ could have a quite different view.