MSNBC legal analyst pens sympathetic portrayal of Laken Riley's murderer — prompting severe online backlash

Many on the right are slamming left-leaning outlet MSNBC after one of its legal analysts penned a piece presenting a sympathetic portrayal of Jose Ibarra, the illegal alien who brutally murdered Georgia nursing student Laken Riley.

On Friday, MSNBC published on its website an article entitled "Laken Riley's killer never stood a chance" by Danny Cevallos, a legal analyst and a criminal defense attorney who specializes in wrongful convictions and personal injury cases.

Though the article makes passing mention of the "overwhelming and horrific" evidence that "likely" prompted Ibarra's team to call for a bench trial as well as the "heartrending testimony of Riley’s loved ones" that helped "justify" Ibarra's sentence of life without parole, it otherwise presents the case as an unfortunate no-win situation for the defense.

"For the defense, this was a hopeless case," Cevallos wrote, adding, "The verdict was going to be guilty."

Cevallos also tipped his cap to Ibarra's attorneys for doing what they could with "bad facts." He even seemingly thanked Ibarra for sparing the state a protracted jury trial when a guilty verdict was all but certain.

"While you probably won’t see that written in any rules or law books, in my experience as a defense attorney, judges (and prosecutors) appreciate defendants who don’t waste the court’s time," Cevallos said.

'This is why Americans stopped watching the liberal media and will never turn it on again. MSNBC is a disgrace.'

In contrast to his apparent admiration for the defense team, Cevallos was less complimentary of Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard, lamenting that Haggard "cut" Ibarra "no breaks."

For example, though Georgia courts often allow defendants to serve their various sentences concurrently, Haggard instead ordered Ibarra to serve his sentences consecutively, Cevallos noted. This decision — which would have seemingly little practical effect on a sentence of life without the possibility of parole — offered the public a "glimpse into the judge’s opinion of this defendant," Cevallos said in an apparently critical tone.

It is worth recalling that despite Cevallos' thinly veiled hand-wringing, Ibarra is an illegal alien who had no right to be in the U.S., he is a member of the vicious Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, and he tried to force himself on an innocent young woman out for a jog. When she refused to submit, he bashed her head with a rock until she died in terror and agony.

Additionally, Cevallos implied that the murder of Laken Riley unfairly became a political weapon with which the right hammered Democrats this election season. "Riley’s murder became a political rallying cry at this summer’s Republican National Convention because Ibarra entered the country illegally in 2022," he said.

Finally, Cevallos closed his article with one final gesture of thanks to the defense:

Sometimes defense counsel just gets handed a truly awful, unwinnable case. The defense’s choice of a bench trial not only saved the state the resources of a wasted jury trial; it also likely avoided unnecessarily prolonging this traumatic experience for the victim’s family.

The online backlash against Cevallos' analysis was swift and fierce.

"You literally can’t make up this level of depravity. These people are sick. The guy is a murderer. He’s an illegal alien that killed an innocent young woman but MSNBC would rather go to bat for him. However, much you hate MSNBC it’s not enough!" wrote Donald Trump Jr.

"Ask yourself: Why is MSNBC writing sympathetic headlines for an illegal alien monster and killer?" wrote conservative commentator Steve Guest. "Why is MSNBC’s 'legal analyst' Danny Cevallos ok with this headline?"

The Federalist contributor Adam Johnston likewise called the article headline "absolutely sickening," while columnist Joe Concha called the entire piece "infuriating garbage."

Former finance executive and big bank satirist John LeFevre spoke for many when he called out MSNBC in general for the article: "WTF is wrong with you, @MSNBC[?]"

Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.), a member of the House Freedom Caucus, likewise slammed the entire network as "a disgrace" for publishing the article: "This is why Americans stopped watching the liberal media and will never turn it on again. MSNBC is a disgrace."

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