Post by MXB on Jun 28, 2006 8:06:16 GMT -5
RESENDIZ EXECUTED IN TEXAS
By MICHAEL GRACZYK, Associated Press Writer
A train-hopping serial killer linked to at least 15 murders near railroad tracks around the country said "I deserve what I am getting" before he was executed Tuesday night.
Angel Maturino Resendiz mumbled a prayer, saying "Lord, forgive me. Lord, forgive me," and acknowledged the presence of relatives watching through a nearby window.
"I want to ask if it is in your heart to forgive me," he said as he looked toward the relatives of victims in another room. "You don't have to. I know I allowed the devil to rule my life."
"I thank God for having patience for me. I don't deserve to cause you pain. You did not deserve this. I deserve what I am getting," he said.
Resendiz, 46, was pronounced dead at 8:05 p.m. CDT.
The Mexican drifter known as the "Railroad Killer" was executed for the slaying of physician Claudia Benton 7 1/2 years ago.
She was killed during a deadly spree in 1998 and 1999 that earned Resendiz a spot on the FBI's Most Wanted list as authorities searched for a murderer who slipped across the U.S. border and roamed the country by freight train.
Benton was stabbed with a kitchen knife, bludgeoned with a 2-foot bronze statue and raped in 1998 in her Houston home, just down the street from a railroad track.
Authorities realized they were pursuing a serial killer when DNA evidence tied Resendiz to Benton's murder and the killings of a church pastor and his wife who were beaten with a sledgehammer as they slept in their house near tracks outside Houston.
A month later, the Mexican drifter walked across the international bridge at El Paso from Mexico and surrendered to police as part of a deal arranged by his sister.
The execution was the 13th of the year in the nation's most active death penalty state.
The execution was delayed almost two hours before the U.S. Supreme Court rejected several last-day appeals. Resendiz's lead appeals lawyer, Jack Zimmermann, had argued that his client, who described himself as half-man and half-angel, told psychiatrists he couldn't be executed because he didn't believe he could die.
The court also rejected an appeal by the Houston-based consul general of Mexico questioning the Mexican national's competency and challenging the constitutionality of the lethal injection process as cruel and unusual punishment. Capital punishment is not allowed in Mexico.
"We do look after the rights of Mexican nationals," Consul General Carlos Gonzalez said. "We watch to make sure the law is applied fairly to a Mexican national."
Mexico's Foreign Relations Department protested the execution.
"The execution was carried out despite the existence of medical evidence of severe mental problems that, in principle, should have excluded the application of this penalty," according to a statement from the agency.
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Wednesday, 06/28/06
ALLEY EXECUTED
By BRAD SCHRADE and TRAVIS LOLLER
Staff Writer
Convicted rapist and killer Sedley Alley was executed early this morning by lethal injection, the second inmate to be put to death in Tennessee since 1960.
Alley’s lawyers said they would continue to press for DNA testing on crime scene evidence that they believe will show an innocent man was put to death today
Meanwhile, the state continued to prepare to execute a second inmate, serial killer Paul Dennis Reid, who killed seven people at Nashville and Clarksville eateries in 1997. (See separate story on Reid's legal case and stay of execution.)
Alley, 50, was pronounced dead at 2:12 a.m. today by a doctor at the state’s death chamber at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in west Nashville, state prison system spokeswoman Dorinda Carter said. He died about 10 minutes after a lethal series of drugs began flowing into his veins, according to members of the press who witnessed the execution.
He was convicted of the 1985 rape and murder of Suzanne Collins, 19, a young Marine who had been out jogging while undergoing aviation training at the Millington Naval Air Station near Memphis.
SEE: Death Penalty Discussion for more info
By MICHAEL GRACZYK, Associated Press Writer
A train-hopping serial killer linked to at least 15 murders near railroad tracks around the country said "I deserve what I am getting" before he was executed Tuesday night.
Angel Maturino Resendiz mumbled a prayer, saying "Lord, forgive me. Lord, forgive me," and acknowledged the presence of relatives watching through a nearby window.
"I want to ask if it is in your heart to forgive me," he said as he looked toward the relatives of victims in another room. "You don't have to. I know I allowed the devil to rule my life."
"I thank God for having patience for me. I don't deserve to cause you pain. You did not deserve this. I deserve what I am getting," he said.
Resendiz, 46, was pronounced dead at 8:05 p.m. CDT.
The Mexican drifter known as the "Railroad Killer" was executed for the slaying of physician Claudia Benton 7 1/2 years ago.
She was killed during a deadly spree in 1998 and 1999 that earned Resendiz a spot on the FBI's Most Wanted list as authorities searched for a murderer who slipped across the U.S. border and roamed the country by freight train.
Benton was stabbed with a kitchen knife, bludgeoned with a 2-foot bronze statue and raped in 1998 in her Houston home, just down the street from a railroad track.
Authorities realized they were pursuing a serial killer when DNA evidence tied Resendiz to Benton's murder and the killings of a church pastor and his wife who were beaten with a sledgehammer as they slept in their house near tracks outside Houston.
A month later, the Mexican drifter walked across the international bridge at El Paso from Mexico and surrendered to police as part of a deal arranged by his sister.
The execution was the 13th of the year in the nation's most active death penalty state.
The execution was delayed almost two hours before the U.S. Supreme Court rejected several last-day appeals. Resendiz's lead appeals lawyer, Jack Zimmermann, had argued that his client, who described himself as half-man and half-angel, told psychiatrists he couldn't be executed because he didn't believe he could die.
The court also rejected an appeal by the Houston-based consul general of Mexico questioning the Mexican national's competency and challenging the constitutionality of the lethal injection process as cruel and unusual punishment. Capital punishment is not allowed in Mexico.
"We do look after the rights of Mexican nationals," Consul General Carlos Gonzalez said. "We watch to make sure the law is applied fairly to a Mexican national."
Mexico's Foreign Relations Department protested the execution.
"The execution was carried out despite the existence of medical evidence of severe mental problems that, in principle, should have excluded the application of this penalty," according to a statement from the agency.
****************
Wednesday, 06/28/06
ALLEY EXECUTED
By BRAD SCHRADE and TRAVIS LOLLER
Staff Writer
Convicted rapist and killer Sedley Alley was executed early this morning by lethal injection, the second inmate to be put to death in Tennessee since 1960.
Alley’s lawyers said they would continue to press for DNA testing on crime scene evidence that they believe will show an innocent man was put to death today
Meanwhile, the state continued to prepare to execute a second inmate, serial killer Paul Dennis Reid, who killed seven people at Nashville and Clarksville eateries in 1997. (See separate story on Reid's legal case and stay of execution.)
Alley, 50, was pronounced dead at 2:12 a.m. today by a doctor at the state’s death chamber at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in west Nashville, state prison system spokeswoman Dorinda Carter said. He died about 10 minutes after a lethal series of drugs began flowing into his veins, according to members of the press who witnessed the execution.
He was convicted of the 1985 rape and murder of Suzanne Collins, 19, a young Marine who had been out jogging while undergoing aviation training at the Millington Naval Air Station near Memphis.
SEE: Death Penalty Discussion for more info