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   From: criminally-complicit@sfchronicle.com   
      
   MONTEZUMA, Ia. — The man charged with first-degree murder in the   
   death of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts pleaded not   
   guilty Wednesday.   
      
   Cristhian Bahena Rivera, 24, appeared before District Court   
   Judge Joel Yates at the Poweshiek County Courthouse on   
   Wednesday, where his charge was formally read to him.   
      
   He said very little, listening through headphones as the hearing   
   was translated into Spanish. Speaking through an interpreter, he   
   confirmed his lawyer's statement that he would enter the not   
   guilty plea.   
      
   Bahena Rivera also waived his right to have a trial within 90   
   days. Yates scheduled his trial for April 16, 2019.   
      
   The entire proceeding lasted 10 minutes.   
      
   Chad Frese, one of Bahena Rivera's lawyers, said his client was   
   nervous ahead of the hearing, "but he's anxious to get this   
   going."   
      
   Speaking to reporters after the hearing, he would not say   
   whether the defense team would request to move the trial out of   
   Poweshiek County.   
      
   "We will analyze that as the evidence comes in and time goes on,   
   but this has got a lot of publicity," he said. "That’s certainly   
   a consideration."   
      
   No matter where the trial takes place, they'll need to find   
   somewhere with 12 impartial jurors who can hear the case, he   
   said.   
      
   Prosecutors declined to answer questions from reporters   
   following the hearing.   
      
   Bahena Rivera's arrest ended a five-week search for Tibbetts,   
   20, of Brooklyn, Iowa, after he led investigators to her body,   
   which was covered in cornstalks in a field in rural Poweshiek   
   County near the town of Guernsey.   
      
   He faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if   
   convicted.   
      
   Police have said Bahena Rivera told them he pursued Tibbetts in   
   his car while she was jogging that night, before parking,   
   getting out of the car and running behind and alongside her.   
      
   When Tibbetts told Bahena Rivera she was going to call the   
   police, he "panicked and got mad," according to a criminal   
   complaint.   
      
   "He then 'blocked' his 'memory' which is what he does when he   
   gets very upset," the complaint states. "And doesn't remember   
   anything after that until he came to at an intersection."   
      
   An autopsy found she died of "multiple sharp force injuries."   
      
   Frese declined to discuss the defense strategy he will pursue at   
   trial, but defense attorneys unconnected to the case have said   
   one possibility is that Bahena Rivera's claim of memory loss —   
   if it can be documented — could open the door to the defense of   
   diminished responsibility. That defense would require Bahena   
   Rivera to admit to killing Tibbetts, but argue that due to his   
   mental state, he was not able to form the intent to kill her   
   that prosecutors must prove for a first-degree murder charge.   
      
   Authorities say Bahena Rivera is a Mexican immigrant who was in   
   the country illegally.   
      
   Officials at Yarrabee Farms, where he worked for four years, say   
   he used an out-of-state photo ID and Social Security number to   
   secure employment at the Poweshiek County dairy farm, and they   
   believed he was the person shown in those documents until his   
   arrest.   
      
   Federal immigration officials visited the farm for two hours   
   earlier this month to meet with employees and owners. No federal   
   immigration charges have been filed against Bahena Rivera or   
   Yarrabee Farms.   
      
   Frese said the immigration question "has nothing to do with this   
   case."   
      
   "Our focus is Cristhian’s charge that he’s facing and the death   
   of this woman," Frese said. "Whether or not he’s an illegal or   
   legal immigrant really has nothing to do with the facts of this   
   case, so we don’t want to get into that argument at all."   
      
   https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and-   
   courts/2018/09/19/mollie-tibbetts-killing-cristhian-bahena-   
   rivera-suspect-arraignment-brooklyn-missing-iowa-   
   student/1333204002/   
                                     
      
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