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Prosecutors say Patrick Wood Crusius drove 11 hours to El Paso,
which sits on the U.S. border with Mexico, from his hometown of
Allen, near Dallas, on Aug. 3, 2019, and then fired at shoppers
with an AK-47 rifle inside the Walmart store. He surrendered to
officers who confronted him outside.
Crusius, who also faces state charges in Texas, is set to stand
trial in 2024 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of
Texas, facing 23 counts of committing a hate crime resulting in
death, and 23 counts of using a firearm to commit murder, among
other charges.
Crusius pleaded not guilty in 2020 to 90 federal hate crime
charges in the case. Proceedings were delayed while prosecutors
decided whether to pursue the death penalty against him. In
2020, his lawyers argued that Crusius, then 21, had been
diagnosed with severe, lifelong neurological and mental
disabilities and should not face execution if convicted.
Last year, a Texas judge put off a state trial in the case as
federal prosecutors determined whether they would seek capital
punishment.
In a notification to the court and to the defendant filed
Tuesday, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Margaret Leachman said
the government would not seek death in the case.
When he was taken into police custody minutes after the
shooting, Crusius was in a psychotic state and treated with
anti-psychotic medication, according to mental health
professionals employed by the jail, a court filing said.
A manifesto that prosecutors say was posted online by Crusius on
8chan, a now-defunct message board often used by extremists,
said the Walmart attack was “a response to the Hispanic invasion
of Texas.”
(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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