A North Texas man charged with a 2019 racist shooting at a Walmart in El Paso that killed 23 and injured 23 has been charged with a hate crime, court records show. trying to plead guilty.
Patrick Crusius, 23, of Allen, near Dallas, Texas, plans to change his plea from innocence to guilt and dozens of federal indictments at a hearing in El Paso in February. am. But he will avoid the federal death penalty because the Biden administration has taken it off the agenda.
Crusius’ attorneys notified the El Paso federal court on Saturday of their plans to plead guilty.
In July 2020, a federal grand jury filed 90 indictments, accusing Crusius of 23 hate crime deaths, 23 attempted murders, 22 firearm homicides, and 22 firearm convictions. indicted for the crime. Firearms during violent crimes.
Federal prosecutors and Crusius’ attorney did not respond to a request for comment on Monday.
U.S. District Judge David C. Guaderama set a hearing to change Crusius’ petition on Feb. 3 in El Paso.
Crusius left a white supremacist and anti-immigrant-themed manifesto on the online bulletin board 8chan shortly before the attack. Screed cites previous mosque shootings in New Zealand and a far-right conspiracy theory known as the “Great Replacement”, in which liberals orchestrate an influx of immigrants to undermine the political and economic power of white citizens. racist idea) was quoted. Attack at Walmart, according to FBI investigative report.
“This attack is a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas,” wrote Crusius. “They are the agitators, not me. I am only protecting the country from the cultural and ethnic changes brought about by the invasion.”
Crusius bought an AK-47 assault rifle over the Internet and drove from his home in North Texas to El Paso on August 3, 2019, to target Hispanics at one of the city’s busiest Walmarts. The store also attracted shoppers from across the El Paso border to Ciudad Juarez.
Crusius’ announcement of the defense in the federal case comes after U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland instructed his prosecutors — in cases nationwide — not to pursue capital punishment. New Appointments for the Western District of Texas Convicted federal prosecutor Jaime Esparza notified a federal judge of the decision last week.
Esparza’s announcement comes amid a reorganization of the prosecutor’s office he currently oversees.
Esparza initially oversaw another state indictment of Crusius, who was charged with multiple murders in El Paso County over the Walmart massacre. The lawsuit is still pending.
Rosales resigned last month in the face of accusations of incompetence and misconduct. Many criminal cases were dismissed because of the prosecutor’s mismanagement under her supervision.
She resigned on December 14th. This was the day before a judge decided whether to suspend her until a trial that could remove her before her term ends in 2024. about scandals and controversies over her handling of state prosecutions along the border counties of West Texas.
Rosales, who has spent most of his legal career in family law, was elected by voters as District Attorney for El Paso, Culberson, and Hudspeth Counties in 2021, after Esparza held the position for nearly 30 years.
Her election victory put her in charge of prosecuting the Walmart Massacre, one of the most high-profile capital punishment cases in Texas history.
guillermo.contreras@express-news.net | Twitter: @gmaninfedland
