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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | April 2006 
Soberanes to Ask Texas to Commute Mexican Prisoner's Death Sentence
 Associated Press
| | Jose Luis Soberanes |
Mexico City – The president of Mexico's National Human Rights Commission has asked Texas officials to commute a death sentence to life in prison for a Mexican prisoner convicted of raping and killing a Houston doctor.
Jose Luis Soberanes made the request in a letter to the Texas parole board, the commission announced Monday in a news release. The board can only make a recommendation to Texas Gov. Rick Perry, the only official with the authority to commute the sentence.
Soberanes is asking for life in prison for Angel Maturino Resendiz, who is scheduled to be executed on May 10 for the 1998 murder of Dr. Claudia Benton, 39.
Mexico opposes the death penalty and has refused to extradite criminals who face execution to the United States. But in November, the country's Supreme Court overturned a 4-year-old ban preventing extradition for suspects who could face life without parole.
Resendiz, now 45, turned himself in to a law enforcement official in El Paso, Texas, in 1999. During his trial in May 2000, Resendiz asked for the death penalty. And after his conviction, he pledged to drop all his appeals to hasten his execution. He eventually changed his mind and filed appeals.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in March 2004 rejected his appeal. The court had previously affirmed his 2000 conviction and death sentence.
Resendiz is known as the “railroad killer” because he has been linked with 14 murders in Texas, California, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky and Illinois – all near railroad tracks.
Resendiz's defense attorneys have argued that he is innocent by reason of insanity. Prosecutors say he was lucid when he killed Benton. |
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