Jose Ibarra is charged with murder and other crimes in the February killing of Laken Hope Riley, whose body was found on the University of Georgia Campus. Ibarra waived his right to a jury trial, meaning his case will be heard and decided by Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard.

The judge who will decide the fate of an undocumented migrant accused of killing nursing student Laken Riley is a no-nonsense, silvery-white-haired jurist whose father was killed in an armed robbery.

The man accused of killing Georgia nursing student Laken Riley has waived his right to a jury, paving the way for his bench trial, which is expected to begin Friday morning.

A man on Tuesday waived his right to a jury trial in the killing of a Georgia nursing student, a case that became a flashpoint in the national immigration debate.