UTU News Digest - Friday, July 16, 1999

UTU Daily News Digest

Information of interest to operating railroad and transportation employees

Friday, July 16, 1999

TEXAS: "Railway Killer" didn’t think he faced death penalty

HOUSTON -- The attorney for the suspected "Railway Killer" says his client was unaware that he could face execution when he surrendered to authorities in Texas.

Court-appointed attorney Allen Tanner said Thursday that Texas officials had not referred to the death penalty in negotiations with serial killer suspect Angel Maturino Resendez and his family.

"They told him that if he turned himself in he would be treated humanely and if they attempt to seek the death penalty he does not consider that to be treated humanely," Tanner said.

U.S. authorities believe Maturino Resendez, a 39-year-old Mexican national, has killed at least nine people. He surrendered on the Texas side of the border with Mexico on Tuesday.

During a Wednesday bail hearing on a burglary charge, the rail-hopping fugitive who triggered a nationwide manhunt appeared anxious to acknowledge his guilt.

As Harris County prosecutors described the bloody killing of a Houston woman whose home was burglarized, the suspect made a request. "Can all this be done very quickly so I can say I'm guilty?" Maturino Resendez asked District Judge Bill Harmon, who told him no plea could be taken yet and denied bond.

It was unclear whether Maturino Resendez was specifically addressing the burglary charge or the more serious allegations against him.

Until Wednesday, he had been charged with two slayings in Illinois and one in Kentucky, and was suspected of five Texas killings. Shortly after the Houston hearing, however, the total reached nine when prosecutors in Cass County charged him with the October 2 robbery-slaying of 87-year-old Leafie Mason.

Mason was bludgeoned in her home in Hughes Springs, about 230 miles north of Houston.

A conviction for the capital murder charge carries a punishment of life imprisonment or execution in Texas, which carries out more executions than any other state.

"If anybody deserves a death penalty, this man does. We have a good case," said Randal Lee, the district attorney for Cass County.

The only other count against Maturino Resendez in Texas is burglary at the scene where Dr. Claudia Benton, 39, was killed December 17 in her Houston home.

The decision of whether to charge Maturino Resendez with capital murder in Benton's death rests with Harris County District Attorney Johnny Holmes. Prosecutors said DNA evidence might link him to her slaying.

Mason, who lived most of her life within 50 yards of a Kansas City-Southern rail line that bisects Hughes Springs, was beaten to death with her antique iron by someone who entered her home through a window, according to police.

Like several other victims Maturino Resendez is suspected of killing, her body was covered by blankets. A police crime lab said a palm print found on Mason's window matched that of the suspect.

Investigators have said they have no idea what motivated the killings, which began with the August 29, 1997 slaying of a 21-year-old college student in Kentucky who was attacked while walking with his girlfriend along railroad tracks.

The rest of the killings have come since September. The most recent were those of a 79-year-old man and his 51-year-old daughter, found dead June 15 in Gorham, Illinois.

And now that the suspected railroad killer is in custody -- who gets the big reward money for his capture?

That's the question law enforcement officials are trying to answer.

About $125,000 had been offered by several different groups for the capture of Maturino Resendez. He's been linked to at least nine deaths across three states.

Since his family helped arrange his surrender, there's been talk they could get some of the reward. There's also the possibility it could be used to defend him. And that is not going over well in cities where Maturino Resendez allegedly killed people. One man calls the idea "crazy."

WASHINGTON: STB scolds BNSF, but doesn't impose fine

WASHINGTON -- The Surface Transportation Board has ruled that Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway acted improperly by failing to return empty double-stack cars to APL Land Transport Services Inc., but the agency did not impose fines, the Journal of Commerce reported.

The case, which dated to 1997, revolved around the APL unit's complaint that BNSF was using the double-stack cars without the owners' authorization and was not paying enough in equipment rental compensation while the cars were on BNSF lines.

APL Land Transport, whose services were sold earlier this year to Pacer International Inc., argued that the STB should set a rate for using the cars as well as award damages because APL could not use its equipment while BNSF had it and had to rent rail cars from other suppliers.

The decision rejected the double-stack train operator's bid to set a rate for using the cars by saying that APL did not submit enough rate information and did not impose specific restrictions on use of the cars.

The stack-train operator also claimed that BNSF did not follow a tariff rule called "Item 454-B" that requires railroads to return cars empty to their owners unless directed otherwise.

Although the STB found that BNSF violated "Item 454-B," the agency declined to award reparations for the car usage because a compensation rate was not established for using the cars when APL was submitting evidence.

The STB, noting that APL could pursue the regulatory case and submit the missing cost information, said, "It appears that the parties could achieve a better resolution of these matters through private negotiations."

The decision also noted that both parties previously had shown some willingness to reach a negotiated settlement.

WASHINGTON: Judge Cites Overnite Transport for unfair labor acts

WASHINGTON -- A National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge has ordered Overnite Transportation, a unit of Union Pacific Corp., to bargain with the Teamsters Union regarding a workers' strike against the company's labor practices.

On Thursday, the Teamsters said the NLRB judge also cited Overnite (UNP) for "massive" unfair labor practices.

The judge's bargaining order requires the company to recognize and bargain with the Teamsters as representatives of the workers at seven terminals affected by the strike.

Earlier this month, 1,700 Overnite workers went on strike at 11 terminals across the country.

An Overnite spokesman said the company believes the administrative law judge's decision is wrong.

Overnite will appeal and "fully expect to prevail at some stage of the case, if not before the full National Labor Relations Board then before the U.S. Court of Appeals," the spokesman said.

The spokesman said the company doesn't intend to bargain with the Teamsters at the seven locations until the appeal process is completed.