Death penalty sought in dragging case

Sara Burnett, Rocky Mountain News

Published October 3, 2007 at midnight

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District Attorney Carol Chambers said Tuesday her office will seek the death penalty against a Glendale man accused of dragging his girlfriend behind his car, despite defense attorneys' claims that the suspect is mentally retarded.

Jose Luis Rubi-Nava is charged with first-degree murder and second-degree kidnapping in the September 2006 death of Luz Maria Franco Fierros. Authorities say Rubi-Nava confessed to putting a rope around his girlfriend's neck and dragging her for more than a mile because he thought she was cheating on him.

Her body was later found by passersby in a Douglas County subdivision.

Defense attorney Tammy Brady told a judge last month that Rubi-Nava has significant "adaptive functioning deficits" and an IQ of 66.

"Apparently our job in the 18th judicial district is to make sure mentally retarded people aren't executed," Brady, an attorney with the state public defender's office, said Tuesday.

Under state and federal law, mentally retarded people cannot be executed.

In a statement released Tuesday, Chambers declined to comment on specifics of the case, but said the decision was made after "a great deal of effort."

"The decision is made only after very careful consideration of the criteria established by the legislature, and the facts of the particular case," she said.

Rubi-Nava, who prosecutors said was in the country illegally, also faces charges of possessing fraudulent government documents.

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