Jury selection begins in 'Railway Killer' trial

A federal report says the Immigration and Naturalization Service apprehended and released Maturino Resendiz several times after he illegally crossed the U.S. border from Mexico

March 28, 2000
Web posted at: 11:43 a.m. EST (1643 GMT)

In this story: Police cite DNA evidence Drifter surrendered after massive manhunt RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

HOUSTON (CNN) -- Jury selection began Tuesday in the capital murder trial of Angel Maturino Resendiz -- the alleged "railway killer" -- for the 1998 stabbing death of Houston physician Claudia Benton.

The Benton case is the first to be tried, but Maturino Resendiz has also been charged in seven other murders: four in Texas, two in Illinois and one in Kentucky.

MESSAGE BOARD Death penalty    VIDEO CNN's Charles Zewe describes the case and the problem of the INS releasing criminals back into the U.S. QuickTime Play Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K

He has also been allegedly linked to, but not indicted in, two other killings in Texas.

All the slayings occurred near railroad tracks.

Maturino Resendiz has pleaded not guilty to killing Benton.

Harris County prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty and defense attorneys have said they will use an insanity defense for their client.

No other motive has been suggested for Benton murder, or the other brutal killings in which victims were beaten, stabbed and in some cases sexually assaulted.

Benton was killed on December 17, 1998. Police have said they found fingerprints and DNA evidence inside Benton's home that links Maturino Resendiz to the killing.

Prosecutors have also charged Maturino Resendiz with burglarizing her house. In Texas the charge of capital murder can only be filed when there is evidence that a murder occurred during the commission of certain felonies, including burglary.

Authorities said they found one of Maturino Resendiz's fingerprints in Benton's stolen Jeep, and jewelry associated with her in his home in his native Mexico.

Harris County prosecutors and law enforcement officials from the other states which have charged Maturino Resendiz agreed that Harris County would take the first case to trial.

Sources said DNA matches also were found in the killings of a University of Kentucky student; minister Norman Sirnic, 46, and his wife, Karen Sirnic, 47, found dead in Weimar, Texas; and Noemi Dominguez, a 26-year-old Houston schoolteacher, found beaten to death.

The 40-year-old Mexican drifter surrendered to authorities in El Paso on July 13, after a manhunt in the United States and Mexico that put him on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list.

Police said Maturino Resendiz traveled back and forth to the United States illegally for years from his home in Mexico and hopped on trains to travel throughout the country.

When not traveling through the United States, Maturino Resendiz lived in the northern Mexican state of Durango with his wife.

Since his arrest, Maturino Resendiz has put forth, then withdrawn, motions saying he wanted to be his own attorney and seeking a change of venue to another city.

He also has refused to cooperate with a state-appointed psychologist who was to evaluate his sanity, saying that prosecutors had betrayed a promise by police during surrender negotiations that he would not be subject to the death penalty.

Jury selection in the case was expected to last about five weeks, with opening arguments set for May 3 before state District Judge Bill Harmon.

Correspondent Charles Zewe and Reuters contributed to this report.

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