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Defense asks to delay murder trial in Iowa student’s slaying

News

January 21st, 2020 by Ric Hanson

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – Defense lawyers for the man charged with killing University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts are asking for his upcoming trial to be delayed. Lawyers for Cristhian Bahena Rivera say they need a delay in the Feb. 4 trial date so that they have time to appeal a judge’s ruling that allowed key evidence to be used against their client. The Iowa Supreme Court will consider whether to take the appeal before trial. Rivera’s lawyers also say they would now like to depose several individuals recently added to the prosecution’s witness list, including Tibbetts’ boyfriend at the time of her July 2018 disappearance.