The illegal alien accused of murdering 20-year-old University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts is now arguing that his “very limited Mexican education” enabled him to speak to law enforcement without understanding his Miranda rights.
In August 2018, Cristhian Bahena Rivera, a 25-year-old illegal alien from Mexico, was charged with Mollie Tibbetts’ murder after police said he admitted to confronting and chasing down the young woman.
Following a nationwide search, Tibbetts’ body was found in a cornfield in Poweshiek County, Iowa. The illegal alien lived in a region of Iowa that was surrounded by sanctuary cities, as Breitbart News noted. He worked on a dairy farm using a stolen ID and Social Security card after allegedly crossing the U.S.-Mexico border as a child.
Bahena Rivera’s defense team, Chad and Jennifer Frese, wrote in a request to the Iowa Supreme Court that the illegal alien’s “very limited Mexican education” led him to speak with police officers without understanding his Miranda rights, the Des Moines Register reports:
The Freses also argued in their request to the Supreme Court that Bahena Rivera’s position as an immigrant with “a very limited Mexican education,” made him unfamiliar with the United States’ criminal justice system and prevented him from understanding the Miranda Warning he was given. [Emphasis added]
Had he been been notified of his right to consular assistance, Bahena Rivera would have consulted with representatives from the Mexican Consulate before giving any statements to law enforcement, they argued. [Emphasis added]
The defense team also claim the arrival of 15 police officers at Yarrabbee Farms, where Bahena Rivera was illegally employed, gave the illegal alien “no choice” but to turn himself in. The defense wrote:
Upon [law enforcement’s] arrival, Bahena was essentially faced with two options: Attempt to evade, which will certainly fail; or cooperate and hope for no consequences. Both of which were hopeless endeavors. Bahena had no choice but to submit to the authority of the agents.
Bahena Rivera’s defense team is currently trying to, again, delay the start of the trial, set for February 4. The defense argues that the discovery of two unidentified peoples’ blood and an unidentified set of fingerprints in the illegal alien’s Chevrolet Malibu trunk where he had placed Tibbetts’ body warrants a delay.
Over the last year and a half, Bahena Rivera has successfully had the murder trial date changed to February 2020 and the trial moved after he claimed that the county where the trial was originally set to be heard had a population that was too white and not Hispanic enough.
According to prosecutors, Bahena Rivera was the last person who saw Tibbetts jogging on the evening of July 18 in Brooklyn, Iowa. That is the night Tibbetts went missing.
Bahena Rivera, according to police, said Tibbetts was jogging when he saw her. That is when he said he approached Tibbetts and started talking to her. After Tibbetts told Bahena Rivera that she would call the police if he did not stop following her, the illegal alien allegedly chased her and “blacked out” after this.
Police believe Bahena Rivera stabbed Tibbetts to death and drove to a cornfield, where prosecutors say he placed corn stalks over her to hide her body. The illegal alien has been held on a $5 million bond.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.
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