ATHENS, Ga.— A Venezuelan man “went hunting for females on the University of Georgia campus” earlier this year and ended up killed nursing student Laken Riley after a struggle, a prosecutor said Friday. A defense attorney said the evidence is circumstantial and does not prove his client is guilty.

Jose Ibarra, who entered the United States illegally two years ago, is charged with murder and other crimes in Riley’s killing in February, which helped fuel the immigration debate during this year’s presidential campaign. Ibarra waived his right to a jury trialmeaning his case will be heard and decided by Judge H. Patrick Haggard in Athens – Clarke County Superior Court.

Prosecutor Sheila Ross told the judge that Ibarra encountered Riley, a 22-year-old student at Augusta University College of Nursing, while she was out running on February 22.

“When Laken Riley refused to be his rape victim, he repeatedly smashed her skull with a rock,” Ross said, adding that the evidence will show Riley was “fighting for her life, for her dignity.”

As a result of that fight, Ibarra’s DNA remained under her fingernails, Ross said. Riley called 911 and in a struggle over her phone, Ibarra’s thumbprint was left on the screen, she said.

The forensic evidence is sufficient to prove Ibarra’s guilt, but digital and video evidence will also show Ibarra killed Riley, prosecutors said.

Defense attorney Dustin Kirby called the evidence in the case graphic and disturbing, but he said none of it proves his client killed Riley.

“The evidence in this case is very strong that Laken Riley was murdered,” he said. “The evidence that Jose Ibarra killed Laken Riley is circumstantial evidence. The evidence that someone intended or certainly committed sexual assault is speculation.”

The killing fueled the national debate over immigration when federal authorities said Ibarra illegally entered the United States in 2022 and was allowed to stay to pursue his immigration case.

Republicans, including President-elect Donald Trump, blamed Democratic President Joe Biden border policy for her death. Speaking about border security during his State of the Union address weeks after the murder, Biden said mentioned Riley by name.

Riley’s body was found near running tracks after her roommates told police she had done it not returned from a morning run. Police said her killing appeared to be a random attack. Ibarra was arrested the next day and has been held in the Athens-Clarke County Jail without bond.

Ibarra is charged with one count of first degree murder, three counts of aggravated murder and one count each of kidnapping, aggravated assault, aggravated assault, obstructing an emergency call, tampering with evidence and being a peeping tom.

Prosecutors say that on the day Riley was killed, Ibarra peered into the window of an apartment in a university building, which is the basis for the peeping Tom charge.

Before the trial, defense lawyers tried without success to have the proceedings moved out of Athens, a city of about 130,000 people about 70 miles east of Atlanta. They also wanted to have the peeping Tom charge handled separately and exclude certain evidence and expert testimony.