Texas prosecutor won't seek death for gunman in 2019 Walmart mass shooting
A Texas district attorney said Tuesday he will no longer pursue the death penalty against the gunman who killed 23 people in a racially motivated attack at an El Paso Walmart in 2019.
A Texas district attorney said Tuesday he will no longer pursue the death penalty against the gunman who killed 23 people in a racially motivated attack at an El Paso Walmart in 2019.
Patrick Crusius is expected to plead guilty to state charges in exchange for a sentence of life without parole and no appeals in the case, El Paso District Attorney James Montoya said.
Crusius, now 26, drove from Allen, Texas, to El Paso armed with a semi-automatic variant of an AK-47 rifle and opened fire on Walmart shoppers in an attack in which he targeted Mexicans on Aug. 3, 2019.
Montoya said that in dropping the death penalty, he spoke with victims' families, a "strong consensus" of whom wanted to "see the case concluded as quickly as possible, even if that meant no longer pursuing the death penalty."
“Withdrawing the death penalty has nothing to do with my stance on capital punishment, nor is it a question of guilt or a lack of evidence. I believe in the death penalty,” Montoya said in a statement.
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