Thomas McHenry’s Along the Rails: A Juror’s Journey

A member of the Railroad Killer’s jury puts pen to paper

Comments (0) By Olivia Flores Alvarez Thursday, Nov 22 2007

Thomas McHenry was hoping he’d get to go home early. One of a hundred potential jurors sitting in a Harris County courthouse, he was more concerned about getting a copy of the newspaper than who was on trial. McHenry had no idea he was about to be selected to serve on the jury of Texas v. Angel Maturino Resendiz, a.k.a. The Railroad Killer. Resendiz was a mass murderer, a homeless man who hitched a ride on freight trains, stopping along the tracks every so often to kill someone before disappearing on the next train.

McHenry spent weeks listening to testimony and reviewing evidence before finally delivering a guilty verdict. His experience became the basis for his debut book Along the Rails: A Juror’s Journey. “He did some really horrible things, much worse than what they said in the newspaper,” says McHenry. “Spending all that time looking at him, sitting right there in the courtroom, looking at pictures of what he had done, it changed me.” Hear how at today’s reading. 5 p.m. Murder by the Book, 2342 Bissonnet. For information, call 713-524-8597 or visit www.murderbooks.com. Free.
Sat., Nov. 24, 5 p.m., 2007