ATHENS, Georgia — Prosecutors on Tuesday finished calling witnesses in the trial of the man accused of killing a Georgia nursing student Laken Rileyand the defense began to present its case, but quickly ran into problems.

Jose Ibarra, 26, has accused of murder and other crimes in Riley’s February death. He waived his right to a jury trialmeaning the case will be decided by Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard alone.

The February 22nd killing on the University of Georgia campus added fuel to the national debate on immigration, when federal authorities said Ibarra entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 and was allowed to remain in the country while pursuing his immigration case. Riley, 22, was a student at Augusta University’s College of Nursing, which also has a campus in Athens, about 70 miles (115 kilometers) east of Atlanta.

Prosecutors rested their case Tuesday afternoon after calling more than a dozen law enforcement officers, Riley’s roommate and a woman who lived in an apartment with Ibarra to testify. The judge then asked Ibarra if he wanted to testify, and he said no.

Defense attorneys planned to call Ibarra’s brother, Diego Ibarra, to testify. During the trial, they asked prosecution witnesses questions that seemed designed to cast doubt on Jose Ibarra’s guilt, suggesting that his brother Diego could not be ruled out as a suspect.

Diego Ibarra pleaded guilty in July to federal charges of possessing a fraudulent green card and is in federal immigration detention awaiting sentencing. Dressed in orange prison scrubs and shackled at the wrists and ankles, he entered the courtroom and took the stand Tuesday afternoon.

But then one of Jose Ibarra’s lawyers, John Donnelly, told the judge that he had just learned that Diego Ibarra had a new lawyer for his immigration case. He said he spoke to the attorney on the phone, and the attorney was two hours away, but said he would advise his client not to testify.

Donnelly said he may call another immigration detainee who may testify about statements Diego Ibarra made while in custody. But the judge said that could run into hearsay problems. Since it was already late in the day, he decided to let the lawyers settle things overnight and resume the trial on Wednesday morning.

Earlier Tuesday, University of Georgia Police Sgt. Sophie Raboud, who reviewed the data on Riley’s phone, went through a timeline of activity on Riley’s phone the morning she died and read the text messages out loud.

Riley called her mother at 9:03 a.m. that morning, and when her mother called back about 20 minutes later, the student encountered Jose Ibarra on a wooded jogging track, according to trial testimony. Prosecutors said Ibarra killed Riley after a struggle, and data from Riley’s smartwatch shows her heart stopped beating at 9:28 a.m.

After Riley failed to answer her phone, her mother, Allyson Phillips, texted her several times, at first casually but then with increasing concern, according to data pulled from Riley’s phone.

At 9:37 her mother texted: “Call me when you can.” Phillips called twice, and when her calls went unanswered, she texted her daughter at 9:58 a.m.: “You’re making me nervous not answering while you’re running. Are you okay?” Phillips texted again at 11:47 a.m., writing, “Please call me. I’m so worried about you.” She and other family members continued to call Riley.

Raboud also testified about surveillance video from near the wooded trail, and Phillips and other family members and friends cried as a video was played that showed Riley running on path in her last moments.

prosecutor Sheila Ross she said during her opening statement that Ibarra was out “hunting females” that morning in February and that he killed Riley after a fight when she “refused to be his rape victim.” Law enforcement officials testified there was no evidence Riley was sexually assaulted.

Dr. Michelle DiMarco, a GBI medical examiner, performed an autopsy on Riley’s body and testified that Riley had injuries, including scratches, bruises and cuts, to her head, neck, torso, abdomen, left hand and left leg. Her injuries included eight cuts to her head, including one that fractured her skull, DiMarco said.

Prosecutors said Ibarra hit Riley in the head with a rock, and DiMarco said the injuries “could be consistent with a rock.” A GBI specialist testified that Riley’s DNA was found on two rocks at the scene.

DNA specialist Ashley Hinkle also testified that tests showed a blue jacket police recovered from a trash can at Ibarra’s apartment complex had a blood stain that tested positive for DNA- Riley’s and that it also had Ibarra’s DNA on it. Ibarra’s DNA was also found under the fingernails of Riley’s right hand.

Defense attorney Dustin Kirby said in his opening that Riley’s death was a tragedy and called the evidence in the case graphic and disturbing. But he said there was insufficient evidence to prove his client killed Riley.

Defense attorneys called three more witnesses before trying to put Diego Ibarra on the stand. One was a woman who lived near the Ibarras family. Stephanie Slaton testified that on the evening of the day Riley was killed, Diego Ibarra asked her what was going on because there were a lot of police around.

Slaton testified that he told her that someone had been killed nearby and urged her to tell the police anything she knew. She said she spoke into a translation app on his phone and showed him the screen, which read: “If you tell them, I’ll tell them you did it and then I’ll kill you too.”

But under questioning by Ross, Slaton said Diego Ibarra never told him he or his brother killed Riley. She also admitted that she had been drinking that day and that she was involved in an intimate relationship with Diego Ibarra and that she was angry with him because she thought he was also involved with another woman.

A police officer called to testify by the defense said he found a pile of discarded clothes near the Ibarra apartment complex the day after the murder, but that it looked like it had been there for some time. The defense also called a man who had been jogging the day Riley was killed and saw a male suspect, but described him as taller and thinner than Jose Ibarra.