ATHENS, Ga. (AP) – A man waived his right to a jury trial Tuesday in his murder a nursing student from Georgiacase which became a flashpoint in the national immigration debate.

Jose Ibarra was charged in the February killing of Laken Hope Riley, whose body was found on the University of Georgia campus. A 10 counts accused Ibarra that he hit the 22-year-old Augusta University College of Nursing student in the head, suffocated her and intended to sexually assault her.

Prosecutor Sheila Ross told the judge that Ibarra’s attorneys contacted her last week to say he wanted to waive his right to a jury trial, meaning he would only be heard by a judge. Ibarra’s attorney, Kaitlyn Beck, then presented the judge with a signed waiver.

After questioning Ibarra with the help of a translator, Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard said he found that Ibarra made the decision to voluntarily forgo a jury trial.

Prosecutors chose not to seek the death penalty, but said in a court filing that they plan to seek a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Jury selection was expected to begin Wednesday, but defense attorneys asked for a delay, saying they did not have enough time for an expert to analyze the DNA evidence.

Shortly after his arrest, federal immigration officials said Ibarra, a Venezuelan citizen, entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 and was allowed to stay to pursue his immigration case. Immigration has already been a major issue in the presidential and Republican campaigns he got his hands on Riley’s murdernow President-elect Donald Trump is blaming Democratic President Joe Biden’s border policies for her death.

While talking about border security during his State of the Union address just weeks after Riley’s killing, Biden he mentioned Riley by name.

Riley’s body was found on February 22 near the running tracks after a friend told police she had he didn’t come back from a morning run. Police said her killing appeared to be a random attack. Ibarra was arrested the next day and is being held in the Athens-Clarke Jail without bond.

The indictment charged Ibarra with one count of malicious murder, three counts of felony murder and one count each of kidnapping, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, obstructing an emergency telephone call, tampering with evidence and peeping on Tom.

The indictment said that on the day of Riley’s murder, Ibarra looked out the window of an apartment in a university housing building, which is the basis of the charge that Tom forgot.

Defense attorneys had tried without success to have the trial moved from Athens, to deal separately with the Tom charge, and to exclude some evidence and expert testimony.