A trial is set to get underway for a man accused of killing a Georgia nursing student earlier this year, in a case that fanned the immigration debate in the last election cycle.

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

The case was swept up in the debate over immigration after investigators said the perpetrator was a migrant from Venezuela who entered the U.S. illegally.

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.

In a case that became a flashpoint in the nation’s debate over immigration during the 2024 election, the bench trial for the suspect in the murder of a nursing student on the University of Georgia campus begins Friday.

The defendant, Jose Ibarra, was charged in the killing of Laken Riley, whose body was found on the University of Georgia campus earlier this year.