DENVER JUDGE WON'T RELEASE FLATS TESTIMONY

(AP) -- A judge has refused to make public some sworn statements by former grand jurors alleging prosecutorial misconduct during an investigation into possible environmental crimes at the old Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant.

Some former members of the 1989 grand jury have alleged the Justice Department broke the law during the probe and cut a deal with plant's operator, Rockwell International, for an $18.5 million fine.

Prosecutors have denied misconduct.

Matsch allowed the jurors in 1997 to create a list of alleged misconduct by prosecutors and to make sworn statements before their attorney, Jonathan Turley, now a law professor at George Washington University. Turley said compiling the list and making the sworn statements were unprecedented actions for a grand jury.

On Monday, Matsch released several documents and motions from the 1989 case but not transcripts of the allegations jurors made against prosecutors .

"In all of our filings we said, 'These are the only two things (the list and the transcripts) we want,'" he said. "Those two things would inform the public and Congress what it was that prompted the jurors to take this historic stand."

Rocky Flats produced more than 70,000 plutonium triggers for nuclear warheads throughout the Cold War at a site 15 miles northwest of Denver. It was raided and shuttered by federal agents for safety violations as part of the 1989 probe.

The federal government has since spent $7 billion to turn the area into a wildlife refuge.

Matsch ruled there is no current investigation that would justify disclosing certain documents under the strict rules that govern a grand jury.

CASTLE ROCK, Co. MURDER SUSPECT'S I.Q.QUESTIONED

(AP) -- 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, and 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 just south of Denver. She had a nylon strap around her neck and her body lay at the end of a 11/2-mile trail of blood.

The coroner said she died from strangulation and massive head wounds.

Authorities have said both Rubi-Nava and Franco Fierros were from Mexico and may have been in the country illegally.

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 and the specific results have not been made public.

The test was a version of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Test developed in the U.S. and translated for use in Mexico.

Psychologist Enrique Suarez of Coral Gables, Fla., called to testified Tuesday by prosecutors, said Rubi-Nava's test results were improperly compared with random samples from the United States.

Suarez said Rubi-Nava's results should have been compared with random samples from Mexico. Even though Rubi-Nava, a landscaper, had lived in the United States for several years, he likely did not learn enough of the culture to be compared with a U.S. sample, Suarez said.

Authorities have not said how long he had been in the United States.

"They (Spanish-speakers) don't assimilate the way other immigrant populations assimilated," said Suarez, who was born in Costa Rica and grew up speaking Spanish. "It's very much delayed because you have larger communities."

DENVER ABORTION AMENDMENT DEBATED

(AP) -- Opponents of a proposal defining a fertilized human egg as a person warned Tuesday it could have unintended consequences, barring doctors from treating women with cancer and banning some birth control.

"As a physician, this proposed constitutional amendment really scares me," said Dr. Mary Fairbanks. "The moment of fertilization is not a medical definition, and so defining a person in that ways interferes with the practice of medicine."

The proposed ballot issue was introduced by a coalition of anti-abortion activists called Colorado for Equal Rights. The group has until May 13 to gather the 76,000 signatures needed to get on the November ballot.

Supporters did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Former state Rep. Gayle Berry, a Republican from Grand Junction, said the amendment would open the door to government control over personal choices.

"This is not a partisan issue. Both sides of the aisle can agree that if this amendment passes, Coloradans will lose the right to make decisions about their own families," she said during a rally on the steps of the state Capitol.

Opponents formed a coalition called Protect Families Protect Choices.

They said the amendment could establish a legal basis for the government to investigate a woman and her doctor for a miscarriage, medical care for high-risk pregnancies that fail or for any action that could unintentionally harm a fetus.

They said it also could allow the government to subpoena medical records to investigate methods of birth control and interfere with medical treatments for infertility.

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