Feb. 26
TEXAS:
Attorney Criticized For Duplicate Death Row Appeals
The court-appointed attorney who handled the death penalty appeal of
condemned serial killer Angel Maturino Resendiz is being criticized for
filing a nearly identical appeal for another death row inmate.
The Austin American-Statesman reported Sunday that Houston lawyer Leslie
Ribnik wrote the virtually identical appeals for Maturino Resendiz and
another condemned prisoner, Robert Gene Will.
Except for different names, the first 20 pages of both appeals are
identical, including the same capitalization error on page 17.
The briefs, which center mostly on a single technical challenge to
instructions given to Texas death-penalty juries, also give incorrect
conviction dates for both men.
Ribnik has apologized for the mistakes but says the appeal argument is
valid.
A new legal team for Maturino Resendiz has since replaced Ribnik, a
criminal lawyer for 16 years.
Maturino Resendiz, the Mexican drifter dubbed the "Railroad Killer,"
remains on Texas death row and is scheduled to be executed on May 10 for
raping and killing a Houston doctor.
He was named the "Railroad Killer" after being linked to 14 slayings in
Texas, California, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky and Illinois near the rail
lines he rode nationwide.
He has claimed to have committed even more.
Among his alleged victims was a former Central Texas pastor and his wife.
Skip and Karen Sirnic were killed in Weimar.
Before moving there, they lived in Riesel, where Skip Sirnic pastured the
Friedens United Methodist Church.
(source: KWTX News)
