|
Patrick Crusius has acknowledged he targeted Hispanics on Aug.
3, 2019, when he opened fire in the store crowded with weekend
shoppers from the U.S. and Mexico in the border city of El Paso.
Under the offer, Crusius would plead guilty to capital murder
and receive life in prison with no possibility of parole, El
Paso County District Attorney James Montoya has said.
Texas prosecutors declined to pursue the death penalty. Montoya
says the decision was driven by a majority of victims’ relatives
who want the case to be over.
Crusius already has been sentenced to 90 consecutive life terms
at the federal level after pleading guilty to hate crimes and
weapons charges.
If the plea arrangement proceeds, families will be able to give
victim impact statements. Dozens of people made emotional
statements during a similar hearing in federal court in 2023
that lasted three days.
Crusius, a white community-college dropout, was 21 years old
when police say he drove more than 700 miles (1,100 kilometers)
to El Paso from his home near Dallas.
Not long after posting a racist rant online warning of a
Hispanic “invasion,” he opened fire with an AK-style rifle
inside and outside the store. Police arrested Crusius shortly
after.
Joe Spencer, a defense attorney in the state and federal cases,
said Crusius was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder that
can be marked by hallucinations, delusions and mood swings and
has suffered from debilitating mental illness for most of his
life.
“You are talking about an individual with a broken brain,” he
said Thursday.
The people killed at Walmart ranged in age from a 15-year-old
high school athlete to elderly grandparents. They included
immigrants, a retired city bus driver, a teacher, tradesmen
including a former iron worker and several Mexican nationals who
crossed the U.S. border on routine shopping trips.
___
Stengle contributed to this story from Dallas.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights
reserved |
|
