A Bath man who pled guilty in the killing of his mother is scheduled to be sentenced Monday.
Jason Ibarra, of Bath, is accused of strangling his mother in May 2022. Courtesy of Two Bridges Regional Jail
Jason Ibarra, 43, last month pleaded guilty to manslaughter in a deal his defense team reached with state prosecutors after a judge issued a rare sanction against the state for failing to properly disclose key personnel records of a witness. Ibarra had been charged with depraved indifference murder and would have faced at least 25 years to life in prison had he been convicted of that charge.
Ibarra’s defense team and the state recommended an overall prison sentence of up to 30 years on the manslaughter charge, with the unsuspended portion capped at 15 years. Ibarra can argue for fewer than 15 years, while probation could be up to six years.
Justice Daniel Billings is presiding over the case in West Bath District Court. He sanctioned the Maine Office of the Attorney General for a “troubling” pattern of late disclosures in the Ibarra case and other homicide cases in the state. The records suggested a state’s witness consumed alcohol while on duty and an investigator did not find the witness credible, according to Billings, who is also expected to rule Monday on a motion by Ibarra’s defense team to disclose the records.
Billings said the AG’s office violated the discovery process by not disclosing the records in the Ibarra case until Aug. 22, two weeks before jury selection was scheduled. Experts and other lawyers said such timing doesn’t give defense attorneys enough notice to weigh that information for a trial, which takes months to prepare for.
The sanction led to the Attorney General’s office announcing changes to its policies to “automatically” disclose such records.
Ibarra had been staying with his 66-year-old mother, Jeanine, in her Congress Avenue apartment in Bath following his release from prison on assault and threatening convictions, according to police. His brother called authorities on the day of the killing after Ibarra allegedly admitted on the phone, sounding “depressed and intoxicated,” that he killed their mother, according to court documents. Bath police Officer Brett McIntire went to the mother’s apartment and said Ibarra was so intoxicated he struggled to stand.
He kept repeating, “I killed my mother,” and also said, “I did not mean to kill her,” according to police.
Officers said they found his mother in a bedroom with cloth around her neck. An autopsy found she died of strangulation.
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