5 Years Later: Election outcome could change lead prosecutor in Aug. 3 shooting trial

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- As the Borderland nears the fifth anniversary of the deadliest mass shooting in El Paso's history, we are nowhere near the start of the state trial for the man who claimed responsibility for the massacre in a federal court last year.

The lack of a definitive trial date for Patrick Crusius means the two men vying to be El Paso's District Attorney are both preparing prosecution strategies while they hit the campaign trail for November's election.

"The jury selection process is going to be a very long process," District Attorney Bill Hicks told ABC-7. "I expect we're going to go through probably a couple 1,000 individual jury sheets before we are able to pare that down and and get to several 100 that are actually willing to be fair and impartial and and set aside whatever they know, or have heard, about the Walmart case -- and are willing to just listen to what they hear from the witness stand."

Crusius' defense attorney Joe Spencer declined an interview about the trial ahead of the anniversary, citing the gag order imposed by 409th District Judge Sam Medrano on the case.

In previous status hearings, Spencer and the defense team said they needed more time to review the case file because the evidence from the prosecutor's office was overwhelming, with millions of pages of documents of evidence, and some digital files were corrupted.

Hicks disagrees.

"I don't want to, I can't go into too many details because we have the gag order," Hicks said. "But we disagreed with that in court. The vast majority of the evidence that they had was the same evidence they have had since the case was first filed."

The case was filed on Aug. 4, 2019.

At that time, James Montoya was a prosecutor on the case. Now, he's the Democratic candidate for district attorney.

"When I was out campaigning, going door to door, I would say this was the number one issue on people's minds," Montoya told ABC-7, and quoted some of the questions he'd receive. "'What's going to happen to this case? Why is it taking so long?'"

Montoya acknowledged the case was disrupted not just by the COVID-19 pandemic, but also by Yvonne Rosales, the former elected District Attorney who was forced to resign in Dec. 2022 while facing allegations that her associates intimidated and impersonated families of Walmart shooting victims.

"The state is ready to go to trial. We're waiting on the court to give us a trial date," said Hicks.

Based on the court docket, that could happen during a conference set for 9am on Sept. 12.

But both Hicks and Montoya are not optimistic that a trial will be set before the Nov. 5 election.

Hicks, a Republican appointed as D.A. by Gov. Greg Abbott, is seeking voter approval to the seat for the first time. He took over for disgraced District Attorney Yvonne Rosales, who resigned in Dec. 2022 after serving less than half of her four-year term.

When asked if he thinks about what happens to the case if he doesn't win, Hicks paused before responding. "I think about it a great deal, Stephanie, I do," he answered. "I've invested a lot of my heart and my energy and my spirit into this case. And I want to see this case through; I want to see justice for our community, I want to see justice for the victims' families, I want to see justice for- I want to see justice."

Depending on who wins, the Walmart shooting trial will either be prosecuted by Hicks, or tried by El Paso's fourth district attorney since Aug. 3, 2019.

Montoya said if he wins, he's expecting to try the case.

"I have not seen any indication that the case will go to trial this year," Montoya said. "Just from what I've seen in the open court hearings, it looks like they are anticipating a trial date in 2025."

What Hicks and Montoya agree on is what the Cielo Vista Walmart shooter should be tried by a jury.

"I personally believe the death penalty is appropriate," said Montoya. "This is a case that should be tried; a jury of El Pasoans should be the one to decide his sentence."

"I know that if he gets the death penalty, he's looking at a very long and very lengthy appeal process," said Hicks. "If he gets the death penalty, it's going to be potentially a couple of decades before he's actually put to death. I understand all of that. But that should be the jury's decision."

Listen to the extended interviews with both Hicks and Montoya in a special episode of the Borderland Crimes podcast published on Saturday, Aug. 3.