'Railroad Killer' executed; court rejects appeals

~ Drifter linked to two murders in small Southern Illinois town.

HUNTSVILLE, Texas -- 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.

The Mexican drifter known as the "Railroad Killer" was executed for the slaying of 39-year-old physician Claudia Benton 7 1/2 years ago. Benton's death was among eight killings in Texas linked to Resendiz. Two more were tied to him in both Southern Illinois and Florida, along with one each in Kentucky, California and Georgia.

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."

In an interview shortly after arriving on death row in 2000, Resendiz said he recalled the attacks as if were watching something through a tunnel. "Everything you see is in a distance," he said. "Everything is slow and silent."