‘Railway Killer’ Is Not Insane, Expert Testifies

HOUSTON —  Admitted serial killer Angel Leoncio Reyes Recendis did not suffer from paranoid schizophrenia or any other major psychosis when he killed a Houston-area physician, a court-appointed psychiatrist testified Monday.

Contrary to testimony from two defense experts, Dr. Ramon Laval said the 40-year-old Mexican drifter suffers from several personality disorders and harbors “strange” beliefs but was not insane when he killed Dr. Claudia Benton in December 1998.

“He knew what he was doing,” said Laval.

Reyes Recendis’ beliefs that he has supernatural powers, such as the ability to predict disasters or leave his own body, are not signals of major mental illness, Laval testified.

Reyes Recendis, 40, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in the slaying of Benton, one of nine killings he acknowledges.

Earlier Monday, Dr. Bruce Cohen, a forensic psychiatrist testifying for Reyes Recendis, said the defendant suffered from delusions brought on by paranoid schizophrenia, or the inability to discern reality.

During his third and final day on the stand, Cohen acknowledged that Reyes Recendis--who has also been known Angel Maturino Resendiz and many other aliases--knew that killing Benton and eight others in three states from 1997 to 1999 was illegal, but he maintained that he thought he was doing God’s work.

If found not guilty, Reyes Recendis would face at least six other capital murder cases.

A guilty verdict would mean lethal injection or life in prison.