Federal prosecutors shared on Tuesday that they will not seek the death penalty for a man accused of carrying out a mass shooting at an El Paso, Texas, Walmart in 2019.
In a one-sentence filing, prosecutors said they would not seek the death penalty for 24-year-old Patrick Crusius, who is charged with the massacre of 23 people in an alleged hate crime that he has pleaded not guilty to, the Texas Tribune reported.
The decision from the DOJ to not seek the death penalty follows a trend that has been in place since Attorney General Merrick Garland took office in 2021.
Nonetheless, Crusius is still facing a federal sentence of life in prison, as he has been charged with 23 counts of a hate crime resulting in death, 23 counts of use of a firearm to commit murder in a crime of violence, 22 counts of hate crime in an attempt to kill, and 22 counts of use of a firearm during a crime of violence.
In state court, Crusius faces 23 capital murder charges, which could still carry out the death penalty depending on how state prosecutors proceed, The Associated Press reported.
The massacre Crusius is accused of carrying out took place on Aug. 3, 2019, when he allegedly entered the Cielo Vista Walmart, killing 23 people and wounding 22.
Despite pleading not guilty to the charges brought against him, Crusius allegedly surrendered to police after the shooting, saying, “I’m the shooter,” the AP reported at the time.
Before the shooting, Crusius allegedly had posted a screed on a white supremacist website that he was carrying out the massacre as “a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas.”
Federal prosecutors did not explain in their court filing why they opted not to seek the death penalty for Crusius.
President Joe Biden and Attorney General Garland have shared that they do not support the federal death penalty, putting pauses in place on its use, according to reports from The New York Times. Biden even pledged to abolish the federal death penalty when campaigning for office in 2020.
Crusius’s federal trial is scheduled for January 2024, but the trial for his state charges has not yet been scheduled.
Related
Related
