The progressive Georgia district attorney who was prosecuting Jose Antonio Ibarra, Georgia nursing student Laken Riley’s killer, has triggered outrage after the suspect dodged the death penalty and was instead sentenced to life without parole. Athens-Clarke District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez refused to seek the death penalty for the defendant even after she removed herself from the case.
Gonzalez appointed a special prosecutor to take over Ibarra’s prosecution at the end of February as she faced massive criticism over her own prosecutorial record and soft-on-crime reforms. Gonzalez stated that her office would “no longer seek the death penalty,” and that while considering charging suspects, she would “take into account collateral consequences to undocumented defendants,” according to a copy of the district attorney’s policies shared by Georgia State Rep. Houston Gaines, New York Post reported. Gonzalez refused to seek the death penalty against Ibarra, saying, “Our utmost duty is to ensure that justice is served and that the victim’s family is an integral part of the deliberation process.” She went on to acknowledge that critics will seek to “exploit this case for political gain,” but legal decisions must “always transcend political considerations,” WRDW reported.
Notably, this decision appears in line with something Gonzalez told staff back in 2021. “Cases which are legally eligible for the death penalty are eligible for sentences of life without parole and life with parole eligibility after serving thirty years,” she wrote. “Both of these sentences constitute very substantial punishment. Decisions to seek the sentence of life without parole are a sentence of death in prison.”
Gonzalez further said that when the office makes charging decisions, it would take into account “collateral consequences to undocumented defendants.”
Ibarrawas convicted on 10 charges, including murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault with intent to rape, and tampering with evidence. The undocumented migrant from Venezuela reportedly killed Riley while she was out jogging, striking her in the head with a rock several times and asphyxiating her.
‘Jose Ibarra deserves the death penalty’
Ibarra escaping the death penalty has enragedGOP lawmakers.Georgia State Representative Houston Gaines wrote on X, “Jose Ibarra will rot in prison for the rest of his life— sentenced to life without parole. While this case was fortunately handed over to a competent prosecutor for the state, our local District Attorney made the choice to not pursue the death penalty. On Day 1 in office, she said she’d never seek the death penalty (she also said she’d “take into account the collateral consequences to undocumented defendants”). If there was ever a case where the death penalty was appropriate, this is it.”
Sen. Colton Moore urgedAttorney General Chris Carr to “file an emergency motion to intervene and demand the death penalty for the murderer of Laken Riley.” “District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez let her radical political agenda stand in the way of justice. By refusing to seek the death penalty, she denied Laken’s family, friends, and community the full measure of justice they deserve,” he wrote on X. “Join me in calling on AG Chris Carr to demand the death penalty for Jose Ibarra.”
Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene wrote, “Jose Ibarra deserves the death penalty. Just as Laken’s mother Allyson asked the judge, Laken’s evil muderer deserves exactly what he gave to Laken.”
