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Defense attorney Jennifer Frese said Tuesday they believe there to be an organized sex trafficking ring in central Iowa that might be connected to Mexican drug cartels.
Chad and Jennifer Frese, Bahena Rivera's attorneys Bahena Rivera is represented by the husband-wife team of Chad and Jennifer Frese of Marshaltown. Both Freses are former prosecutors who now do criminal defense work, among other types of law.
Defense attorneys Chad and Jennifer Frese claimed that new witnesses have identified new possible suspects and alleged the state failed to disclose information about other cases they believe to be similar to Tibbetts' disappearance — a charge prosecutors vehemently deny.
Defense lawyer Chad Frese said prosecutors should have disclosed information related to those allegations, which were investigated in 2019 but did not result in charges.
Cristhian Bahena Rivera worked at Yarrabee Farms for four years and was an employee in good standing, the farm told The Associated Press. The company told The AP it was shocked to learn Rivera had been charged in Tibbetts’ death.
Cristhian Rivera. Police said Cristhian Rivera is an undocumented immigrant and has lived in the Poweshiek County, Iowa, area for about four to seven years. He is originally from Mexico, but police did not say when he moved to the United States, according to The Associated Press.
His lawyers began calling witnesses Tuesday, questioning the confession and DNA evidence, and painting Bahena Rivera as a non-violent family man who crossed the border illegally from Mexico as a teenager in search of a better life.
Investigators said Bahena Rivera confessed during an 11-hour interrogation to approaching Tibbetts, fighting with her after she threatened to call the police, putting her body in his trunk and hiding it in a cornfield. They say he led them to the body, which was badly decomposed and hidden underneath cornstalks.
to earn better wages. She said Bahena Rivera “is a yes man” who did anything he was asked on the dairy farm where he worked, and cooperated when law enforcement showed up there and asked to question him.
The first defense witness called Tuesday was forensic consultant Michael Spence, who agreed that Tibbetts’ DNA was found on blood stains in the trunk, but said there was also unaccounted for DNA in the trunk, including at least one unknown male and female.
Bahena Rivera was also sending money back to his parents in Mexico and paying to build them a house, she said. The defense showed jurors a photograph of a smiling Bahena Rivera and Gamboa with their young daughter at a family party in 2017. “He was happy that his daughter was happy,” Gamboa said. “It was a good day.”.
Local 5 can verify: Bahena Rivera is being defended by Chad and Jennifer Frese, a private legal team based in Marshalltown.
So Local 5 can verify: I fBahena Rivera wants a speedy trial, it's within his rights under the Constitution. However, he's also allowed to waive that right and have a trial at a later date. Below is a June 2019 court document Bahena Rivera signed, waiving his right to a speedy trial. scribd.