(PresidentialInsider.com)- We heard last week that two prison inmates who claimed to be witnesses of the murder of Mollie Tibbetts came forward last minute to defend Christhian Behena Rivera, the 27-year-old who is believed o have murdered the 20-year-old in 2018.
Initially, it was believed that sentencing would be delayed after Rivera’s attorneys requested a new trial in light of the two new witnesses who claimed that another man was responsible for her murder. It was sad news for the family and anyone who took an active interest in the story, which shook the entire country.
However, Iowa Judge Joel Yates denied a motion from Rivera’s attorneys for prosecutors to turn over new evidence relating to the alleged new suspect and sex trafficking rings operating in the area. The judge rules that the examination of investigations into sex trafficking in the region would simply be a “fishing expedition” and won’t actually change the facts of the case.
On July 27 there will be a hearing to make a decision on whether a new trial will go ahead, and the sentencing date has not yet been rescheduled. It means that there is a good chance a new trial will not be approved – but we can’t say anything yet for sure.
Rivera is a Mexican national who came to the United States illegally. On May 28, he was convicted of first-degree murder for stabbing Tibbetts to death. The evidence that led to his conviction is overwhelming, with Tibbett’s blood being found in the trunk of his car. He also led authorities to her body which was dumped in a difficult-to-access cornfield around a month after she disappeared. However, during the trial, Rivera made the surprise claim that he didn’t kill her after all…but was instead forced to dispose of her body by the two men who actually did kill her.
The fact that the two new witnesses are already prison inmates has raised some red flags. One is a 210-year-old named Gavin Jones, who claimed to have killed Tibbetts with an associate after she had been kidnapped and forced into a sex-trafficking ring.
It makes you wonder…why would an existing inmate confess to something so serious out of the blue?
