Cristhian Bahena Rivera, an illegal immigrant has been guilty and charged with first-degree murder in the case of Mollie Tibbetts, according to Fox News.
Juror Robert Reed said, “I think especially for a lot of us, it was very emotional.”
“What we really had to do is put all of our emotions to the side. And that’s not what it was about.”
Chad Frese said, “Anytime you have a client who gives a statement like he did, and the fact that there was DNA evidence in the trunk and the fact that he led them to the body, it makes it extraordinarily difficult.”
“He had never varied from that version of events, not one, not one detail.”
“We thought the jury needed to hear directly from him.”
Bahena Rivera has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.
From Fox News:
Jurors in the trial of an illegal immigrant charged with the brutal 2018 murder of Mollie Tibbetts found Cristhian Bahena Rivera guilty of first-degree murder on Friday in a case that drew national attention because of the suspect’s immigration status.
The verdict was announced Friday afternoon after a two-week trial in Davenport, Iowa, in which Cristhian Bahena Rivera, 26, faced the first-degree murder charge for which he was convicted.
After the verdict, prosecutor Scott Brown said the Tibbetts family was “relieved” and pleased with the decision.
Jurors reached their decision after deliberating for just over seven hours. Excluding the alternates, the jurors ranged in age from 19 to 71. The panel was made up of five females and seven males, of which three were of Hispanic descent and nine were White.
Juror Robert Reed told Fox News the panel was confident in its decision, noting that the charged nature of the case didn’t play a role in the outcome.
Bahena Rivera, who came to the U.S. illegally from Mexico as a teenager, will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, which is a mandatory sentence upon conviction. He will be held without bond pending a July 15 sentencing hearing.
During closing arguments, prosecutors urged the jury to convict Bahena Rivera, 26, for the death of the University of Iowa student, citing “overwhelming evidence” that tied him to the killing.
The defense rested its case Wednesday after Bahena Rivera testified that two men killed Tibbetts and forced him to transport her body in his car and threatened to harm his family.
Brown called Bahena Rivera’s testimony “a figment of his imagination.” He argued that Bahena Rivera drove past Tibbetts, 20, as she was running on July 18, 2018 in Brooklyn, Iowa and made advances towards her.
When she rebuffed him, he got angry, Brown said. He then killed her and hid her body in a cornfield, he said.
“He’s coming up with something totally new,” Brown said of the Bahena Rivera’s testimony after the verdict.
Defense lawyer Chad Frese said his client gave authorities a false confession that was coerced. He noted that investigators never found a murder weapon or produced witnesses showing where Tibbetts was killed.
The post Murder Trial Of Mollie Tibbetts: Judge Finds Illegal Immigrant Cristhian Bahena Rivera To Be Guilty Of Her Murder appeared first on Chicks On The Right.
Comments are closed.