CASTLE ROCK, Colo.—A man accused of killing his girlfriend by dragging her behind a car with a tow strap around her neck pleaded guilty Thursday to first-degree murder, accepting a deal that lets him avoid a possible death sentence.
A judge immediately sentenced Jose Luis Rubi-Nava, 38, to life in prison without parole for the September 2006 death of Luz Maria Franco Fierros, 49.
Prosecutors were seeking the death penalty but agreed to the life sentence if Rubi-Nava pleaded guilty to murder. They will also drop kidnapping and other charges.
Franco Fierros’ battered and disfigured body was found at the end of 1 1/2-mile trail of blood near Castle Rock, about 20 miles south of Denver. Authorities say they could not immediately tell if the victim was a man or a woman, and it took three days to positively identify her.
Investigators said Rubi-Nava told them Franco Fierros was alive when he began dragging her. An autopsy found she died from strangulation and massive head wounds.
Authorities said Rubi-Nava was an illegal immigrant from Mexico, and Franco Fierros was also from that country.
One of her daughters, Blanca Anel Leyva-Franco, was listening to the proceedings by phone from her home in Chilpancingo, Guerrero. She addressed District Judge Paul King before he sentenced Rubi-Nava.
“What my mother taught us was we really are nobody to decide what happens to other people’s lives,” she said through an interpreter. “We just want you to apply the law and do what the law requires so it doesn’t happen to anybody else.”
District Attorney Carol Chamber said in a written statement she considered the costs of seeking the death penalty and consulted with Franco Fierros’ family and investigators before agreeing to the plea deal.
She said the agreement gave Rubi-Nava “a limited opportunity to confess responsibility.”
Rubi-Nava sat stoically while King asked him a series of questions to determine whether he understood his plea.
When it came time to enter the plea, Rubi-Nava hesitated for a moment, then turned to an interpreter and said in his ear, “Culpable.” The interpreter told the court, “Guilty.”
Rubi-Nava’s attorneys had been battling for months to avoid the death penalty. They sought to have him declared mentally retarded, which would have barred his execution under Colorado law, but King ruled against them.
When King asked Rubi-Nava Thursday if he believes he is mentally retarded, Rubi-Nava answered, “No.”
A Colorado Bureau of Investigation agent testified in 2007 that Rubi-Nava told him he and Franco Fierros had a violent argument hours before her death, and that Rubi-Nava accused her of seeing other men.
Franco Fierros told Rubi-Nava, “You’re worthless as a man. That’s why I have other men,” according to a transcript of the agent’s interview read in court.
Deputy District Attorney Leslie Hansen told King that Rubi-Nava had a wife in Mexico and another girlfriend in the United States.
“All he had to do was leave Miss Franco Fierros. But he couldn’t do that. He wanted her to pay because he thought that she was showing interest in another man,” Hansen said.
“And she did pay. He killed her in a very cruel, degrading and inhuman way. This was the ultimate act of domestic violence,” Hansen said.
The plea agreement requires Rubi-Nava to pay $9,200 in restitution and $91,000 in prosecution costs.
Franco Fierros is also survived by two other daughters, a son, her mother and two siblings.
