Ms Riley, a nursing student in the northeastern Georgian city of Athens, was found dead in a wooded area of ​​the University of Georgia (UGA) campus after she did not return from her morning run on February 22 this year.

Mr. Ibarra was arrested the next day. He faces 10 charges, including felony murder, aggravated assault and other alleged crimes.

He waived his right to a jury trial, which means his case will be heard and decided by district judge H Patrick Haggard.

Court records show prosecutors are seeking a sentence of life in prison without parole.

As the trial began in an Athens courtroom on Friday, chief prosecutor Sheila Ross said data from Ms Riley’s smartwatch showed she was “fighting for her life, fighting for her dignity” just minutes after setting off.

The prosecutor said the victim’s struggle was “violent”. The court heard Ms Riley called police at 9.11am that morning and at 9.28am her heart stopped after her device failed to move.

The prosecution also shared video evidence, including security camera footage that purported to show Mr. Ibarra throwing bloody clothes and gloves into emptied trash bins before police called.

Ms. Ross said her team would present more evidence linking Mr. Ibarra to the murder.

He said they found Mr. Ibarra’s DNA under one of Ms. Riley’s fingernails and his fingerprint on her cell phone.

Ibarra’s defense attorney, Dustin Kirby, acknowledged in his opening statement that “the evidence in this case is very good that Laken Riley was murdered.”

But he said evidence linking his client to Ms Riley’s death was “lacking”. This, he argued, was not convincing beyond a reasonable doubt, the threshold of evidence required to convict Mr. Ibarra.

Judge Haggard also heard from two witnesses: Sergeant Kenneth Maxwell, the police officer who found the body, and Lily Steiner, Miss Riley’s roommate.

Prosecutors played body camera footage that clearly showed Mr. Maxwell’s efforts to resuscitate the young woman.

Ms. Steiner, 22, testified that she, Ms. Riley and other roommates shared their locations with each other via a mobile app.

The roommates went looking for Ms. Riley, who “spent a while in the woods,” but found only one of her headphones. They called the police.

Ms. Riley’s death and Mr. Ibarra’s criminal and immigration history have become a central issue in the immigration debate that is determining the 2024 presidential election.

President Joe Biden in March. A Democrat was pressed about Ms. Riley’s murder during the State of the Union address.

Republican lawmakers blamed the Biden-Harris administration for Ms. Riley’s death. They said it was the White House’s fault that Mr. Ibarra, who entered the United States illegally in 2022, was able to remain in the country despite his criminal record.

In the race for the White House, Republican President-elect Donald Trump used Ms. Riley’s name on the campaign trail.

National Institute of Justice study, external He argues that undocumented immigrants in the United States are arrested for violent and drug crimes at less than half the rate of native-born citizens.