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Cristhian Bahena Rivera will be sentenced Monday for the murder
of Mollie Tibbetts, three years after she died and more than a
month after his case was originally expected to resolve.

Bahena was convicted May 28 after a two-week trial for killing
Tibbetts in 2018, and faces a mandatory life sentence for first-
degree murder. He was scheduled to be sentenced July 15, but in
the week before that hearing, his attorneys filed motions to
delay his sentencing and request a new trial.

The latest:Cristhian Bahena Rivera sentenced to life in prison
for murdering Mollie Tibbetts in 2018

They argued new witnesses had come forward during his trial
suggesting another man had confessed to Tibbetts' killing, and
suggested the true killer might also be responsible for the May
disappearance of 11-year-old Xavior Harrelson of Montezuma.

Judge Joel Yates rejected that request after a lengthy hearing
and set a new sentencing date for Monday. It will take place at
1:30 p.m. at the Poweshiek County Courthouse in Montezuma. Both
Bahena and Tibbetts' family will have opportunities to address
the court before his sentence is pronounced.

From July:The untold story of Mollie Tibbetts’ final moments —
and her family’s 3-year struggle to reclaim her memory

Prosecutor: Life sentence 'very well deserved'
1:30 p.m. The sentencing hearing has begun for Cristhian Bahena
Rivera. Prosecutor Scott Brown addressed the court, noting that
"it's been a very long haul in this case," more than three years
since Tibbetts' death, and that state law requires a sentence of
life in prison.

"Based upon the facts and circumstances of this case, it is very
well deserved," he said, adding that the evidence against Bahena
at trial was "overwhelming."

Defense attorney Chad Frese said that, given the mandatory
nature of the sentence, "we have nothing to say." Bahena
declined to speak to the court when given the opportunity.

'Do you know what it's like?' Tibbetts' mother's statement read
to court

1:40 p.m. Prosecutors presented one victim impact statement,
from Laura Calderwood, Tibbetts' mother, which was read by a
victim services staffer. In it, she said she was there not to
speak to Bahena, but to give a voice to her daughter.

"Mollie was a young woman who simply wanted to go for a quiet
run on the evening of July 16, and you chose to violently and
sadistically end that life," she said.

She asked if Bahena can imagine going through the same terrible
experience for his own young daughter. If she eventually becomes
a mother herself, Calderwood wondered what she will tell her
children about their grandfather. She recounted the day she
learned Mollie's body had been found, from being woken with the
news that the sheriff was there to say, with tears in his eyes,
"we wished for a different outcome, but we found Mollie’s
remains today"; to the rush to contact family members and other
loved ones before they could hear about it on the news; to
finally breaking the news to Mollie's grandmother, who had been
certain all along that her granddaughter would eventually be
found alive.

"It was a race against the clock to notify all the people who
cared so deeply for Mollie that she was not coming home," she
said.

More:Read what Mollie Tibbetts' mother wrote to her daughter's
murderer for his sentencing hearing

'You and you alone' sentenced to life in prison
1:50 p.m. After Calderwood's statement, Judge Joel Yates
delivered the sentence: life in prison without eligibility for
parole.

"You and you alone forever changed the lives of the friends and
family of Mollie Tibbetts, and you and you alone will receive
the following sentence," he said.

The Tibbetts family watched in silence, a few visibly wiping
their eyes, while Bahena gave no visible reaction as the
sentence was read.

Under state law, he was also ordered to pay $150,000 in
restitution.

Read more:Cristhian Bahena Rivera sentenced to life in prison
for murdering Mollie Tibbetts in 2018

William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can
be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com, 715-573-8166 or on
Twitter at @DMRMorris.

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and- courts/2021/08/30/cristhian-bahena-rivera-sentencing-hearing- watch-live-coverage-mollie-tibbetts-murder/5605348001/

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