CASTLE ROCK — A man accused of dragging his girlfriend to death behind a car may have scored low on an IQ test because he had trouble assimilating into U.S. society, not because he is mentally retarded, a prosecution witness testified Tuesday.
Jose Luis Rubi-Nava, 37, is charged with murder and kidnapping and could face the death penalty unless a judge rules he is retarded, as the defense maintains.
The mangled body of his 49-year-old girlfriend, Luz Maria Franco Fierros, was found in September 2006 near Castle Rock. She had a nylon strap around her neck and her body lay at the end of a 1 1/2-mile trail of blood.
The coroner said she died from strangulation and massive head wounds.
The defense has argued that an IQ test given to Rubi-Nava showed he was mentally retarded. The test was administered by a defense expert.
Psychologist Enrique Suarez testified that Rubi-Nava’s test results were improperly compared with random samples from the U.S. when they should have been compared with samples from Mexico. The Associated Press
