Cristhian Bahena Rivera’s Sentencing Delayed in Mollie Tibbetts Case Due to Info on Potential Suspects

A person scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday to life in jail with out parole for killing college student Mollie Tibbetts acquired a last-minute reprieve on Wednesday in mild of bombshell new info pointing to different potential suspects.

In Might, a jury convicted Cristhian Bahena Rivera, 27, an Iowa dairy farm employee, of first-degree homicide within the loss of life of Tibbetts, a 20-year-old scholar on the College of Iowa. On Wednesday, Decide Joel Yates ordered Bahena Rivera’s sentencing to be delayed after two witnesses independently approached authorities with tales that known as into query his involvement within the crime.

“We’re glad that Decide Yates has delayed sentencing to take care of this crucial subject,” Chad Frese, one in every of Bahena Rivera’s protection attorneys, informed The Each day Beast. “In our opinion there may be actually no different choice at this level. The motions we’ve on file, we imagine, element some very troubling circumstances within the investigation of our consumer and consists of some info that was withheld from us that’s definitely exculpatory and related.”

Central to the prosecution’s case have been surveillance video that positioned Bahena Rivera’s automotive within the space the place Tibbetts vanished whereas out for a run, DNA proof that recognized blood discovered within the trunk of Bahena Rivera’s automotive as Tibbetts’, and a partial confession by Bahena Rivera, who directed investigators to a cornfield the place Tibbetts’ physique was discovered. In his personal protection, Bahena Rivera claimed he had been abducted by two masked men who then compelled him to assist them kidnap and kill Tibbetts.

The case became a national flashpoint because of Bahena Rivera’s undocumented standing, having come to the U.S. illegally as an adolescent. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds known as Bahena Rivera a “predator” who slipped via a “damaged immigration system.” After which-President Donald Trump used the case as a possibility to rail in opposition to undocumented immigrants and agitate for his long-promised border wall.

“You heard about right this moment, with the unlawful alien coming in from, very sadly, from Mexico,” Trump informed supporters at a West Virginia rally the day Bahena Rivera was charged. “And also you noticed what occurred to that unbelievable, lovely younger lady. Ought to have by no means occurred. Illegally in our nation. We’ve had a big impact, however the legal guidelines are so unhealthy… We’re getting it modified however we’ve to get extra Republicans.”

In accordance with a 10-page motion from Bahena Rivera’s defense attorneys, an inmate at an unnamed Iowa correctional facility was watching Bahena Rivera’s Might 26 courtroom testimony on tv. Prosecutors—and two days later, a jury—discounted Bahena Rivera’s account of getting been kidnapped and compelled to commit a heinous crime as wholly unbelievable. However the unidentified inmate informed the jail chaplain that he may confirm the story Bahena Rivera, who had been jailed since his 2018 arrest, informed on the stand.

The chaplain known as the affiliate warden, who interviewed the inmate. The inmate mentioned that in a earlier keep in county jail, one other inmate requested if he “knew in regards to the Mollie Tibbetts case.” Recognized as “Inmate 2” within the July 8 protection movement, this particular person claimed to have taken half in Tibbetts’ homicide.

“Inmate 2 then when on to element that he and one other particular person whom he identifies by title, have been staying in a ‘entice home’ owned by an roughly 50-year-old man concerned within the intercourse trafficking commerce,” the movement states, explaining that it was inside a second “entice home” that he noticed Tibbetts sure and gagged.

Inmate 2 mentioned Tibbetts “was going to be intercourse trafficked however the publicity acquired too huge too fast,” the protection movement states, citing investigators. Inmate 2 and a second, unnamed particular person then carried out a plan Inmate 2 mentioned had been devised by the 50-year-old man—to stab Tibbetts to loss of life and “dump her physique close to a Hispanic male with the intention to make it seem that the Hispanic male dedicated the crime,” in accordance with the movement. “Inmate 2 then mentioned they did, actually, kill Mollie Tibbetts and perform the plan in such a method that the Hispanic man can be incriminated.”

“Inmate once more thought Inmate 2 was exaggerating initially till he watched the top of the trial and heard Cristhian Bahena Rivera’s testimony which intently matched Inmate 2’s story,” the movement says.

The protection movement factors out that the 50-year-old man had been a suspect within the current disappearance of an 11-year-old Montezuma, Iowa boy named Xavior Harrelson. The person, identified in local media reports as James Manuel Lowe, was arrested final week by federal authorities on unlawful weapons expenses, however he has not been charged in relation to the Harrelson or Tibbetts circumstances.

The second witness, who didn’t know the primary, independently contacted Poweshiek County deputies later that very same day, the protection movement states. This particular person was described within the submitting as “very emotional” and certain below the affect when she first spoke to police. The girl claimed to have been in a car a month earlier when a person reportedly pointed a gun at his personal head and mentioned, “[T]hat Mexican shouldn’t be in jail for killing Mollie Tibbett’s [sic] as a result of I raped her and killed her.”

This was the identical particular person the primary witness had already recognized as Inmate 2, states the movement.

All of this got here out after the protection had rested its case and the jury had returned a responsible verdict.

“Whereas maybe not each little bit of the account suits neatly into defendant’s account of the occasions, sufficient of the info match to definitely query whether or not the state would have been capable of show their case past an inexpensive doubt had this info been identified and offered to a jury,” the movement states.

Iowa state lawyer basic’s workplace spokesperson Lynn Hicks told the Associated Press that authorities proceed to imagine that Bahena Rivera is responsible of Tibbetts’ homicide.