A judge in Jefferson County, Ky., rejected a defense appeal that a murder suspect's low IQ should prevent the man from facing the death penalty.

The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal said Thursday while individuals with an IQ of 70 or below cannot be executed under Kentucky state law, Jefferson County Circuit Judge Martin McDonald said the law does not apply to Donald Giles, 41.

McDonald said state law requires Giles to have taken an IQ test when he was a child to qualify for the death penalty ban.

"In this instance, the IQ test results are all from the defendant's adult years; there are no IQ test scores from the defendant's school days," McDonald said in his ruling.

Giles' trial, in which he could face the death penalty if convicted, is scheduled to start Friday.

Giles, who has an IQ of 61 and is a diagnosed a paranoid schizophrenic, is accused of fatally shooting Charles Goodlett during an attempted robbery Feb. 22, 2003.

The Courier-Journal said two other men, Robert Dale Holt and Robert Gene Turner, were indicted in the killing in Louisville's Fairdale neighborhood. (c) UPI