Key takeaways from trial of illegal alien Iowa farmworker charged with Mollie Tibbetts' murder

[But But Sanctuary Cities! Blue Wave! Obama Democrats Murdering Americans!]

The trial in a murder case that rocked the American Heartland
began on Wednesday with a prosecutor telling an Iowa jury that
the evidence will show that farmworker Cristhian Bahena Rivera,
a Mexican national, abducted University of Iowa student Mollie
Tibbetts while she was jogging, stabbed her seven to 12 times
and dumped her body in a cornfield.

In his opening statement to the predominantly white Scott County
jury of eight women and seven men, prosecutor Bart Klaver asked
the panel to focus on three things: the defendant's car was
captured on security video circling the 20-year-old Tibbetts
around the time she vanished in 2018, her blood was discovered
in the trunk of his vehicle, and his own statements to
investigators implicated him.

"Ladies and gentlemen, when you examine the evidence together,
there can be no other conclusion than the defendant killed
Mollie Tibbets," Klaver said.

In an unusual move, Bahena Rivera's attorneys deferred giving an
opening statement until the state concludes its case.

Bahena Rivera, an undocumented immigrant who speaks little
English, sat in the Davenport courtroom dressed in a white shirt
and dark slacks with headphones on to listen to the trial with
the aid of a Spanish interpreter. He pleaded not guilty to first-
degree murder.

The high-profile trial was moved to Scott County from Poweshiek
County due to the enormous pre-trial publicity, including
statements from former President Donald Trump, who alleged that
Bahena Rivera was an example of a broken immigration system.

Rivera came to the U.S. illegally, according to officials, and
allegedly provided false forms of ID that were verified through
the Social Security Administration's verification system,
according to his employer.

Tibbetts' boyfriend admits to affair
Defense lawyer Chad Frese, who's defending Bahena Rivera with
help from his wife, attorney Jennifer Frese, immediately
attempted to undermine the state's case with a blistering cross-
examination of the prosecution's second witness -- Tibbett's
live-in boyfriend, Dalton Jack.

Frese seemed to portray Jack, who enlisted in the U.S. Army
about three months after Tibbett's badly decomposed body was
discovered, as the villain in the case, a possible suspect.
Prosecutors maintain that Jack has an ironclad alibi: He was
about 140 miles away working on a Mississippi River bridge
construction project in Dubuque, Iowa, on the evening of July
18, 2018, when Tibbetts disappeared from a country road in their
hometown of Brooklyn, in Poweshiek County.

Frese began his questioning by getting the 22-year-old Jack to
confirm that Tibbetts, whom he began dating in high school, was
the love of his life and that he'd hoped to marry her.

Over repeated objections from prosecutors, Frese got Jack to
admit that he had cheated on Tibbetts, and that Tibbetts had
learned he had strayed from the woman he was having an affair
with, and that she confirmed it by going through his phone and
finding messages to her.

Jack testified that he initially withheld the information about
the affair from law enforcement investigators, who, at the time,
were searching for Tibbetts.

"I didn't deem it necessary," he said. "I didn't think it was
pertinent to the case."

Jack also testified that he and Tibbetts had an argument over
his infidelity three days before she disappeared and that they
had discussed breaking up about a month earlier.

He testified that while he wants Bahena Rivera to be convicted
of killing Tibbetts, he did not want to take the witness stand
in the trial.

"I didn't want to be in the same room as your defendant here,"
he said, staring at Bahena Rivera seated at the defense table.

Under follow-up questioning from prosecutor Scott Brown, Jack
testified that he's been cooperating with the prosecution in
preparation for the trial, even while deployed to Iraq.

Asked by Brown why he initially was apprehensive about
testifying, Jack said of Bahena Rivera, "I'm obviously not his
biggest fan," adding, "I wholeheartedly believe he's guilty."

Frese informed Judge Joel Yates that he plans to call Jack back
to the witness stand when the defense presents its case in the
trial, which is scheduled to last about 10 days.

Avid runner
Klaver began his opening statement by telling the jury that
Tibbetts was 19 at the time of her death and was preparing to
enter her sophomore year at the University of Iowa, where she
was studying child psychology. He said that at the time of her
death, Tibbetts was working at a child daycare center in
Grinnell, Iowa.

"Mollie was an avid runner, and she ran cross country and track
in high school," Klaver said. "On July 18, 2018, she put on her
multi-colored, neon running shoes and left the house."

He said she was spotted running on a gravel road on the
outskirts of Brooklyn by her hairstylist, Kristina Steward, who
drove by Tibbetts.

"Aside from Mollie's killer, Kristina Steward was the last
person to see Mollie alive," Klaver said.

MORE: Jury selection for man charged in Mollie Tibbetts' death
begins in Iowa
Tibbetts' disappearance prompted a massive search, involving
hundreds of police and volunteers, the FBI and the Department of
Homeland Security.

"After four weeks, they were no closer to finding Mollie than
when they started," Klaver added.

It wasn't until investigators combing through security video
found footage of Tibbetts jogging and noticed a black Chevrolet
Malibu driving past her repeatedly. He said the vehicle was
noticeable because it had chrome door handles and mirrors.

He said a Poweshiek County sheriff's deputy driving home spotted
a vehicle matching the description of the Malibu, followed it
and spoke to the driver, Bahena Rivera. That deputy photographed
Bahena Rivera and the vehicle.

Alleged confession
On Aug. 20, 2018, investigators interviewed Bahena Rivera, who
worked at a dairy near Brooklyn, for several hours at the
Poweshiek County Sheriff's Office.

Klaver said that at first Bahena Rivera denied knowing anything
about Tibbetts' disappearance other than what he saw in news
reports and missing-person flyers. But when confronted with a
still image of his car from security video taken around the time
Tibbetts went missing and near where she was jogging, Bahena
Rivera allegedly changed his story.

"It was then that the defendant relented on his story and he
admitted that he had seen Mollie the night she disappeared, that
he wanted to get close to her," Klaver said. "He admitted that
he found her attractive, that she was 'hot,' in his words."

Klaver said that on Aug. 21, 2018, Bahena Rivera led police to a
cornfield outside Brooklyn, where he made a confession.

The prosecutor alleged that Bahena Rivera parked his car, got
out and started jogging alongside Tibbetts, who threatened to
call the police.

"He admitted that he became angry at that time. He admitted to
fighting with her," Klaver said. "And then he says the next
thing is, he's driving in his car, the Malibu, and he notices
Mollie's earbud [in his lap] and he remembers that Mollie is in
his trunk."

Klaver said Bahena Rivera allegedly confessed to driving to the
cornfield, opening the trunk and seeing Tibbetts' lifeless body
with blood around her head and neck.

"He admits putting Mollie over his shoulder. He described the
body as someone who had fainted," Klaver said. "He admitted
taking Mollie into the field, placing her face up and putting
cornstalks on her body and then leaving."

Klaver said police searched the field and found Tibbetts' body
"decomposed beyond all recognition, wearing multi-colored neon
running shoes."

An autopsy, Klaver said, determined that Tibbetts was stabbed
seven to 12 times in the chest near her ribs, neck and skull.

"I'll ask you to return a verdict, the only verdict that the
evidence demands," Klaver told the jury, "guilty of murder in
the first degree."

https://abcnews.go.com/US/key-takeaways-opening-day-iowa-
farmworker-charged-mollie/story?id=77778681