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Court denies evidence review in killed Iowa student case

News

February 4th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Supreme Court says it will not review evidence in the case of a man charged with killing University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts in 2018. The lawyers for Cristhian Bahena Rivera have argued that much of the evidence prosecutors plan to use at trial should be suppressed because his cooperation was coerced and he wasn’t initially read his legal rights.

The Des Moines Register reports that Justice Edward Mansfield denied the review Tuesday. A district court judge had ruled the evidence was admissible. Rivera’s lawyers appealed the decision, leading to a delay of Rivera’s first-degree murder trial.