ATHENS, Ga. – A Venezuelan man “went female-hunting on the University of Georgia campus” earlier this year and ended up the murder of nursing student Laken Riley after a fight, a prosecutor said Friday. A defense attorney said the evidence was circumstantial and did not prove his client was guilty.

Jose Ibarra, who entered the US illegally two years ago, is accused of murder and other crimes in Riley’s killing in February, which helped fuel the immigration debate during this year’s presidential campaign. Ibarra waived his right to a jury trialmeaning his case is pending trial will be heard and decided by Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard.

Prosecutor Sheila Ross told the judge that Ibarra met Riley, a 22-year-old student at the Augusta University College of Nursing, while she was not running on Feb. 22.

“When Laken Riley refused to be his rape victim, he repeatedly hit her skull with a rock,” Ross said, adding that evidence will show Riley “fought for her life, for her dignity.”

As a result of that fight, Ibarra’s DNA was left under her fingernails, Ross said. Riley called 911, and in a struggle with her phone, Ibarra’s fingerprint remained on the screen, she said.

The forensic evidence is sufficient to prove Ibarra’s guilt, but digital and video evidence will also show Ibarra killed Riley, the prosecutor said.

Defense attorney Dustin Kirby called the evidence in the case graphic and disturbing, but said nothing proves his client killed Riley.

“The evidence in this case is very good that Laken Riley was murdered,” he said. “The evidence that Jose Ibarra killed Laken Riley is circumstantial. Evidence that someone intended or certainly committed any sexual assault is speculation.”

The crime added fuel to the national immigration debate when federal authorities said Ibarra entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 and was allowed to stay to pursue his immigration case.

Republicans, including President-elect Donald Trump, blamed Democratic President Joe Biden border policies for her death. While speaking about border security during his State of the Union address weeks after the murder, Biden he mentioned Riley by name.

Riley’s body was found near the jogging tracks after her roommates 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 at the Athens-Clarke Jail without bail.

Ibarra is charged with one count of malicious murder, three counts of felony murder and one count each of kidnapping, aggravated assault, aggravated assault, obstructing an emergency telephone call, tampering with evidence and being a Tom with the look

Prosecutors say 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.

Before the trial, defense attorneys tried without success to have the proceedings moved from Athens, a city of about 130,000 about 70 miles east of Atlanta. They also wanted the peeping tom charge to be heard separately and to exclude some evidence and expert testimony.