Attorneys for Jose Ibarra want new trial, go after judge

CLARKE COUNTY — Lawyers for the man convicted in the brutal murder of Laken Riley on the University of Georgia campus in Athens take aim at the judge and demand a new trial.

In just one page filed in Athens-Clarke County Superior Court, lawyers for Jose Ibarra lay out their list of complaints.

They say the guilty verdict is “contrary to law, contrary to the evidence, that the evidence was circumstantial, that the judge made other mistakes during the trial.”

They want all of the 26-year-old’s convictions and his life-in-prison-without-parole sentence tossed out, and they want a new trial.

The verdict and sentence came after a four-day bench trial where prosecutors did not seek the death penalty.