Castle Rock – A public defender for Jose Luis Rubi-Nava told a judge Monday that her client is being convicted by immigration-reform crusaders and the media before he can stand trial on charges he put a rope around his girlfriend’s neck and dragged her to death behind his truck.
Rubi-Nava is a Mexican citizen who was living in Glendale while working construction jobs. He is suspected of being an undocumented worker.
Defense attorney Tamara Brady said news reports had been “negative” toward Rubi- Nava.
She also noted public comments by U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, a Republican from Littleton, who used Rubi-Nava as an example of the need for immigration reform.
She gave Judge Paul King a copy of a tape of Tancredo in a Sept. 21 appearance on C-SPAN in which he spoke of border security and reportedly said, “If everyone had done their job correctly, this horrible crime would not have occurred.”
Short of a full gag order, Brady asked King to restrict prosecutors and law enforcement from volunteering comments to the media.
Prosecutor Darren Vahle told King normal rules of prosecutorial conduct covered most of what Brady requested, and that neither his office nor the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office would make any comments to reporters about the evidence against Rubi- Nava.
Vahle said the gruesome nature of the murder had attracted interest beyond the illegal immigration debate.
“And, frankly, there is nothing any of us can do about that,” he told the judge.
King denied the defense’s request, the latest in a series of motions aimed at limiting the media’s access to the court case.
“Free discourse is part of what of makes this country able to resolve issues presented to it,” King said.
At a Nov. 1 hearing, King is expected to set a date to hear preliminary evidence and consider arguments on whether there is probable cause that Rubi-Nava, 36, was involved in the death of Luz Maria Franco-Fierros, 49.
Her naked body was found at the end of a blood trail that stretched more than a mile from Interstate 25 to the Surrey Ridge subdivision in northern Douglas County on Sept. 18.
A picture that included Rubi-Nava was found along the way.
On Thursday, King ordered that Franco-Fierros’ body be released by the coroner to the Mexican consulate in Denver so it could be returned to her family in Mexico for burial.
Rubi-Nava and Franco-Fierros reportedly shared an apartment in Glendale.
On Monday, Rubi-Nava was formally told of the charges against him – premeditated murder, second-degree kidnapping, two counts of forgery and one count of possessing a forged instrument.
Rubi-Nava is being held without bail in the Douglas County jail. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has asked that Rubi-Nava be detained.
Staff writer Joey Bunch can be reached at 303-820-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com.
