Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds on day 3 of Mollie Tibbett s murder trial and signing a bill to prohibit mask mandates in schools.
DAVENPORT, Iowa The man on trial for the 2018 stabbing death of a University of Iowa student is a hard-working, family-centered immigrant from Mexico who was pressured into making a false confession, his defense told jurors Tuesday.
Jennifer Frese, a lawyer for Cristhian Bahena Rivera, said in her opening statement that their hearts should break for 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts, but that authorities conducted an incomplete investigation into her death and were too quick to close the case. Her family deserves justice but so does Cristhian Bahena Rivera, Frese said, standing next to her client.
Mollie Tibbetts: Defense to call more witnesses after painting Bahena Rivera as hard-working immigrant
By Kelly Hayes
DAVENPORT, Iowa - The defense for a man on trial for the murder of Mollie Tibbetts, a University of Iowa student stabbed to death in 2018, will continue calling witnesses on Wednesday after painting him as a hard-working, family-centered immigrant from Mexico who was pressured into making a false confession.
After prosecutors rested their case on Monday, a lawyer for Cristhian Bahena Rivera said in her opening statement that their hearts break for 20-year-old Tibbetts, but that authorities conducted an incomplete investigation into her death and were too quick to close the case.
Cristhian Bahena Rivera testified in court Wednesday that two armed, masked men forced him to drive up to her as she was running. Bahena Rivera is on trial for the 2018 stabbing death of Mollie Tibbetts.
Cristhian Bahena Rivera claimed in court on Wednesday that two men approached him on July 18, 2018 with a knife and gun, telling him to drive into town, where they passed a jogger.
Mollie Tibbetts case: Murder suspect Cristhian Bahena Rivera testifies armed men forced him to approach her
By Kelly Hayes
DAVENPORT, Iowa - The man on trial for the murder of Mollie Tibbetts, a University of Iowa student stabbed to death in 2018, testified Wednesday for the first time, saying that two armed, masked forced him to drive by her as she was running.
Cristhian Bahena Rivera was answering questions through a translator from his defense attorney Jennifer Frese, who has sought to paint him as a hard-working, family-centered immigrant from Mexico who was pressured into making a false confession.
Bahena Rivera, 26, is charged with first-degree murder. The 20-year-old vanished while out running on July 18, 2018, in Brooklyn, Iowa, and investigators recovered her partially naked, decomposing body from a cornfield a month later.