(ATHENS, Georgia) — The suspect accused of killing Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student on the University of Georgia campus, waived his right to a jury trial.

The judge granted the defense’s motion for a bench trial for the suspect, Jose Ibarra, during a hearing in Athens-Clarke County on Tuesday.

The trial is scheduled to begin Friday before Judge H. Patrick Haggard, who will issue a verdict in the case.

Jury selection was scheduled to begin in the case on Wednesday.

When Haggard asked if he understood the jury trial waiver and whether it was “freely, knowingly and intelligently signed and considered,” Ibarra said yes.

The defense also said they agreed with their client’s decision to forego a jury trial and confirmed that the form had been properly translated into Spanish by a court interpreter for Ibarra.

Last month, Haggard denied the defense’s motion for a change of headquarters in the high profile case.

Ibarra, 26, was indicted by Athens Clarke County grand jury on intentional homicide and serious homicide and other crimes in May. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Riley, an Augusta University student, was found dead in a wooded area of ​​the Athens campus on Feb. 22 after failing to return from a run. The indictment alleges that Ibarra killed her by “inflicting blunt force trauma to her head and suffocating her” and severely disfigured her head by hitting it “multiple times” with a rock.

Additional charges in the 10-count indictment include aggravated assault, kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault with intent to rape, obstructing or preventing a person from making an emergency telephone call and tampering with evidence. The last charge alleged that he “knowingly concealed” evidence (a jacket and gloves) related to the crime of murder with malicious intent.

He was also accused of a voyeur crime. The indictment alleges that on the same day of Riley’s murder, he peeped through the window of another person who lived in a campus apartment. Last month, the judge also denied a motion seeking to separate that charge from the case.

Ibarra was denied bail following his arrest on Feb. 23 and is being held in the Clarke County Jail.

Police have said they do not believe Ibarra, a migrant from Venezuela who authorities say entered the United States illegally in 2022, knew Riley and that this was a “crime of opportunity.” His death has become war cry Many conservatives, including now President-elect Donald Trump, called for immigration reform.

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