Brian Kemp Reacts to Laken Riley Killer’s Sentence

Governor of Georgia Brian Kemp has reacted to the life sentence given to the murderer of Laken Riley, saying he appreciates its severity and the swiftness.

Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student at Augusta University, was murdered by Venezuelan immigrant Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, on February 22 while out jogging at the University of Georgia in Athens. Ibarra was arrested the next day.

On Wednesday, Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard found Ibarra guilty on all 10 counts against him, including federal murder, kidnapping with bodily injury and aggravated assault with attempt to rape. Ibarra was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Before the trial began, the Western Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office, led by Democrat Deborah Gonzalez said that it would not seek the death penalty.

Speaking on Fox and Friends on Thursday morning, Kemp, a Republican, said he appreciated the severity of the judge’s sentence, given he was unable to order the death penalty.

Reacting to the verdict, Kemp told Fox presenter Laurence B. Jones: “I appreciate the severity of the sentence under the ramifications that he [Judge Phillips] had based on the prosecutor.”

He added that he did not have authority over the death penalty in this case, saying “that would be in the prosecutor’s hands.”

Responding to questions as to why the death penalty was not sought for Ibarra, a spokesperson for the District Attorney’s Office told Newsweek: “Life without parole is an appropriately serious sentence and is a decision supported by the family, as heard in the impact statements during yesterday’s sentencing.”

Kemp also cited the verdict as a “bittersweet day,” praising the case’s conclusion, but leaning into immigration debates that have surrounded the case.

“This is a tragic event that never should have happened. But it did because of bad policies of this [President Joe Biden’s] administration, which is quite honestly outrageous, but I am thankful justice was swift here and the judge moved so quickly,” Kemp told Jones.

When Gonzalez assumed office in 2021, her office revealed they would not seek the death penalty for convictions.

In May, Gonzalez’s office told media, “Our utmost duty is to ensure that justice is served and that the victim’s family is an integral part of the deliberation process.

“We understand that there will be those outside this office who will disagree with our decision and seek to exploit this case for political gain. However, the integrity of our judicial process and the pursuit of justice must always transcend political considerations.”

Newsweek has contacted Gonzalez and the prosecutor Sheila Ross via email for comment.

Speaking about the wider immigration debate around the case and its impact on the election, Kemp said: “This is why we had such a change in the election. People are outraged that the border’s been this open for this long. That you have the government transporting people around the country. We have no idea who these people are or where they’re going.”

He added: “Republican governors in this country have repeatedly asked the Biden administration to at least tell us who are the people that you are moving, where are you taking them and then if you move them somewhere else to let us know so we can simply know if these people are in our state, in our cities. And that has been met with crickets.”

Newsweek has emailed the White House for comment.

Reacting to Ibarra’s conviction, President-elect Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that it was time to secure the U.S. border and “remove these criminals and thugs from our country, so nothing like this can happen again.”

Trump had previously blamed Riley’s murder on Biden and his border policy. “Laken Riley would be alive today if Joe Biden had not willfully and maliciously eviscerated the borders of the United States and set loose thousands and thousands of dangerous criminals into our country,” Trump told a rally in Georgia in March.