El Paso Walmart gunman due back in court in September
by Robert Moore, El Paso Matters
July 22, 2024
The man who admitted to the Aug. 3, 2019, Cielo Vista Walmart mass shooting is scheduled to be back in a state courtroom in September, more than five years since the shooting that killed 23 people and wounded 22 others.
District Judge Sam Medrano has set a scheduling conference for 9 a.m. Sept. 12 in his 409th District Court. The hearing could lead to a trial date on state charges of capital murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon against Patrick Crusius, who turns 26 on Saturday.
Medrano has waived Crusius’ appearance in other state court hearings since his arraignment on Oct. 10, 2019. But the notice for the Sept. 12 hearing says the defendant’s appearance isn’t waived, meaning he must attend the hearing.
Crusius pleaded guilty last year to federal hate crimes and weapons charges and sentenced to 90 consecutive life prison terms.
The guilty plea came after federal prosecutors decided not to seek the death penalty. Federal prosecutors have declined to explain that decision, but at his sentencing hearing in July 2023 said he had a long history of mental health issues and had been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder.
No trial date has been set on state charges, which carry a possible death sentence. Three different district attorneys and multiple state prosecutors have handled the case since the shooting.
District Attorney Bill Hicks, who was appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott in December 2022 after Yvonne Rosales resigned two years into a four-year term, has said he will seek the death penalty if Crusius is convicted of capital murder.
Hicks is being challenged in the Nov. 5 election by Democrat James Montoya, who also has said he will seek the death penalty. But Montoya has also indicated he might be open to a plea agreement if a trial date hasn’t been set by the start of the next district attorney’s term in January 2025.
The Sept. 12 hearing is a scheduling conference, where defense and prosecutors can propose dates for a series of actions – such as motions filings – leading to a court date and the start of jury selection.
Medrano also had a scheduling conference in September 2023, but no schedule emerged after defense attorneys said they were still sifting through millions of pages of potential evidence turned over by prosecutors earlier that year.
The most recent hearing came in February, where prosecutors and defense lawyers continued to argue over the exchange of evidence.
The Sept. 12 hearing could be the first time in almost five years that the public can see the Walmart gunman through media video and still photos. The media has not been allowed to photograph Crusius since his last appearance in state court in October 2019. Cameras are not allowed in federal courtrooms, where Crusius appeared several times last year.
Medrano generally has allowed media photography in his court for hearings related to the Walmart shooting, although cameras have not been allowed in the last two hearings.
The 2019 mass shooting was one of the deadliest domestic terrorism attacks in U.S. history. In a screed published online just before the shooting, Crusius said he was trying to stop “the Hispanic invasion of Texas.”
Since the shooting, conservative media and politicians have expanded the use of the word “invasion” to describe unauthorized immigration, despite warnings that the language is inaccurate and could lead to further violence.
This article first appeared on El Paso Matters and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
