A Venezuelan man was convicted of his murder Laken Riley, nursing student from Georgiaa case that fueled the national debate over immigration during this year’s presidential race.

Jose Ibarra was accused of murder and other crimes in Riley’s February death, and the guilty verdict was handed down Wednesday by Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard. Ibarra, 26, had waived his right to a jury trialthat is, Haggard alone heard and decided the case.

Haggard found Ibarra guilty of all 10 counts against him: one count of malicious murder; three counts of murder; and one count each of kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault with intent to rape, aggravated assault, obstructing an emergency call, tampering with evidence and being a peeping Tom.

After reading the ruling, the judge said he was ready to proceed with the sentence immediately, but prosecutors asked for a recess. The judge said he would continue after an hour break.

Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty. Ibarra faces life in prison.

Riley’s parents, roommates and other friends and family cried as the verdict was read. Ibarra did not visibly react.

The judge said that as he listened to closing arguments, he wrote down two things the lawyers had said on a notebook. He noted that prosecutor Sheila Ross called the evidence “overwhelming and powerful” and that defense attorney Kaitlyn Beck reminded him that he was “required to put my emotions aside” in making his decision.

The killing 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.

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 Tuesday and rested their case Wednesday morning.

prosecutor Sheila Ross he told the judge that Ibarra encountered Riley while she was jogging on the University of Georgia campus on February 22 and killed her during a struggle. 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.

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 not enough evidence to prove his client killed Riley.

Riley’s parents, roommates and other friends and family packed the courtroom throughout the trial.