HOUSTON - The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Wednesday put a confessed rail-riding serial killer, whose victims included an elderly Barrow County woman, one step closer to getting his wish that he be executed as soon as possible.
The state's highest criminal court, in a 7-2 decision, affirmed the Mexican drifter's May 2000 conviction and death sentence for the Dec. 17, 1998, rape-slaying of Dr. Claudia Benton, a Houston-area medical researcher.
State District Judge William Harmon, who presided over the trial, said Wednesday Maturino Resendiz's appeals will continue unless he again asks to stop them.
``Basically, the next step is his,'' Harmon said.
If Maturino Resendiz, 42, chooses to end his appeals, Harmon said he will hold a hearing to determine if the ``Railroad Killer'' is competent to make such a decision. If he rules Maturino Resendiz is competent, Harmon then could set an execution date.
In a recent death row interview with The Associated Press, Maturino Resendiz stuck to his initial July 2001 request that his appeals end.
``I would rather have it over with,'' he said. ``I hope they just stop everything.''
Harmon last year ruled the automatic initial appeal - the one turned down Wednesday - must be completed regardless of what Maturino Resendiz wanted.
Maturino Resendiz stoked terror across Texas, then the nation, during the spring and early summer of 1999 as authorities searched for an indiscriminate serial killer who mostly preyed on targets near the rail lines he rode. Between May 2 and June 15 of that year, he killed four people in Texas and two more in rural Illinois.
In an embarrassing blunder, the Border Patrol picked him up for illegal entry on June 2 near El Paso and released him back into Mexico, saying they were unaware the man - who used numerous aliases - was on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List as Rafael Resendez-Ramirez.
Maturino Resendiz committed four slayings after his release. Then on July 13 he crossed an international bridge into El Paso and gave himself up to Texas Ranger Sgt. Drew Carter, the lead investigator on the case who convinced Maturino Resendiz's U.S. relatives to coax a surrender.
In total, authorities have linked Maturino Resendiz to 13 killings - six in Texas, two each in Illinois and Florida and one each in Kentucky, California and Georgia. He claims to have committed even more.
Lyn McClellan, who helped prosecute the Benton case in Houston, said Maturino Resendiz is a smart, conniving criminal toying with the system by saying he wants to die.
``He doesn't really mean it,'' McClellan said. ``When it gets to the licklog, he'll always back away.''
Maturino Resendiz admitted to killing Benton, 39, and eight others going into his trial as court-appointed attorney Allen Tanner claimed his client was innocent by reason of insanity. The prosecution countered Maturino Resendiz had personality defects but was not insane.
A dissenting opinion Wednesday from Judge Paul Womack and joined by Judge Cheryl Johnson agreed with appellate attorneys that Maturino Resendiz's trial lawyers should have been allowed to admit graphic photographs of their client's other killings to illustrate ``proof of craziness.''
``Normally as a defense attorney you're fighting to keep that sort of thing out,'' Robert Morrow, one of the convict's lawyers, said. ``This time was going to show the level of his insanity.''
Photos in the court file illustrated Maturino Resendiz's brutality. One showed a pickax protruding from the head of a victim. Another illustrated the bloody chaos in a bedroom where a couple was bludgeoned with a sledgehammer.
McClellan agreed the photos, some of which were used to win a death sentence in the punishment phase of the trial, had no place in the guilt-innocence portion.
``Our position is a guy who goes out and does this stuff doesn't have to be insane,'' McClellan said. ``Our position is a guy who goes out and does this stuff has got to be really evil.''
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May 4th, 2024
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