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u.s. news Diasabra 29 Mei 2021

Farm laborer convicted in 2018 stabbing death of Iowa runner

(AP) — A jury found a Klaver said the verdict was an didn’t show up for her sum-
farm laborer guilty of emotional moment for rela- mer job at a daycare.
murder Friday in the ab- tives of Tibbetts, calling the
duction and killing of a outcome a “weight off of ev- Her disappearance from the
University of Iowa stu- eryone’s shoulders.” Several town of 1,700 was immedi-
dent who vanished while of her relatives, including ately deemed suspicious, and
out for a run in 2018. her mother, had watched the local, state and federal agen-
proceedings daily in a confer- cies joined hundreds of vol-
The 12-member jury unani- ence room across from the unteers in a highly publicized
mously found Cristhian Ba- courtroom, where the pub- search for her.
hena Rivera guilty of first-de- lic was banned due to CO-
gree murder in the stabbing VID-19 protocols. Investigators say they broke
death of Mollie Tibbetts, the case open nearly a month
who is remembered as a Bahena Rivera’s defense at- later after obtaining surveil-
friendly 20-year-old who was torneys, Chad and Jennifer lance video from a home-
studying to become a child Frese, said they were disap- owner that shows, for a split
psychologist. pointed in the verdict and second, a shadowy figure that
would appeal. They said appears to be Tibbetts run-
Bahena Rivera, who came that their client had never ning in the distance. The
to the U.S. illegally from wavered since 2018 from video shows a black Chevy
Mexico as a teenager, will be the story that he told on the Malibu with chrome mirrors
sentenced to life in prison witness stand about the two and door handles driving past a rural area where he left her
without the possibility of pa- masked men that he claims 20 seconds later, and back An autopsy found that Tib- body.
role. Judge Joel Yates ordered were responsible. They said and forth several times in the betts died of sharp force inju-
Bahena Rivera, who has been the decision to call him to next 20 minutes. ries from several stab wounds Bahena Rivera’s defense sug-
in custody since his August testify was an easy one. to her head, neck and chest. gested one of the men may
2018 arrest, to be held with- A sheriff’s deputy spotted DNA testing showed that her have been Tibbetts’ boy-
out bond pending a July 15 “We can tell you that getting Bahena Rivera, who worked blood was found in the trunk friend, Dalton Jack, who ad-
sentencing hearing. to know Cristhian Bahena, at a local dairy farm, driving of the Malibu, but investiga- mitted that he had an affair
we are very surprised that he the distinctive vehicle the tors never found the murder with another woman and past
The verdict came after a two- would be the kind of person next day. During a lengthy weapon. anger problems. But police
week trial at the Scott Coun- that would commit a crime interrogation that began Aug. said they cleared Jack, who
ty Courthouse in Davenport, like this,” Chad Frese said. 20, 2018, Bahena Rivera said Prosecutor Scott Brown said had bought an engagement
in a case that fueled public “He is nothing but a soft- that he drove past Tibbetts in a closing argument that ring and planned to soon
anger against illegal immigra- spoken, respectful, kind per- while she was running and Bahena Rivera killed Tibbetts propose marriage to Tibbetts,
tion and concerns about ran- son.” turned around to get another out of anger after she rebuked after establishing that he was
dom violence against wom- look because he found her at- him. He said Bahena Rivera out of town for work when
en. The jury, which included They said they would renew tractive. also had a sexual motive, not- Tibbetts vanished.
nine white members and their arguments that Bahena ing that Tibbetts was found
three of Hispanic, Latino or Rivera’s statements to police He eventually said that he ap- partially naked with her legs Then-President Donald
Spanish descent, deliberated were coerced and should be proached Tibbetts and fought spread when her body was Trump, Iowa Gov. Kim
for seven hours on Thursday suppressed, along with the with her after she tried to get found. Reynolds and other Repub-
and Friday. discovery of Tibbetts’ body away and threatened to call licans had cited the vicious
that followed. police. He claimed that he During dramatic testimony crime ahead of the 2018
“This was the verdict that then “blacked out” but re- Wednesday, the 26-year-old midterm elections to call for
the evidence demanded,” Tibbetts, who ran track and membered driving with her Bahena Rivera denied that he harsher policies to deter il-
said one of the prosecutors, cross country in high school, body in the trunk of his car. killed Tibbetts. He claimed legal immigration. But their
Poweshiek County Attorney never returned home after He led investigators in the publicly for the first time that efforts eventually stopped af-
Bart Klaver, who said such going for a routine run in early morning hours of Aug. two masked men took him ter Tibbetts’ parents said the
violent crime almost never her hometown of Brooklyn, 21 to a remote cornfield at gunpoint from his trailer, slaying should not be used
happens in his county of Iowa on the evening of July where they found her badly forced him to drive as one of to advance a political agenda
18,000 people. 18, 2018. She was reported decomposed body hidden them killed Tibbetts on a ru- that Tibbetts would have op-
missing the next day after she under corn stalks. ral road and directed him to posed.

Bill Cosby refuses sex offender program, so is denied parole

(AP) — Actor Bill Cosby grams during his nearly The 83-year-old Cosby has ber, will reverse his convic- Philadelphia. The two had
won’t be paroled this year three years in state prison long said he would resist the tion in the first celebrity trial met at Temple, where Cosby
after refusing to partici- in Pennsylvania. treatment programs and re- of the #MeToo era. Cosby’s long served on the board of
pate in sex offender pro- fuse to acknowledge wrong- lawyers say the trial was trustees and was a frequent
doing even if it means serv- flawed because five other ac- celebrity visitor to campus.
ing the full 10-year sentence. cusers were allowed to testify The Associated Press does
This is the first year he was to support the sexual assault not typically identify sexual
eligible for parole under the complaint filed by a former assault victims without their
three- to 10-year sentence Temple University basketball permission, which Constand
handed down after his 2018 team manager. They also say has granted. In the wake of
conviction. the judge should not have let the May 11 decision, which
the jury hear Cosby’s damag- began circulating Thursday,
Cosby spokesperson Andrew ing testimony from accuser she posted a tweet that said
Wyatt called the decision “ap- Andrea Constand’s related simply, “DENIED.”
palling” and said Cosby “ve- civil suit.
hemently proclaims his in- Cosby broke racial barriers
nocence.” Cosby is serving his sentence in Hollywood in the 1960s
at SCI-Phoenix in Montgom- and had a top-ranked sitcom,
Cosby meanwhile hopes the ery County. The case stems “The Cosby Show,” on tele-
state Supreme Court, which from a 2004 encounter with vision from 1984 to 1992.
heard his appeal in Decem- Constand at his estate near