El Paso Walmart mass shooter: What to know before July 5 federal sentencing
The admitted white supremacist who pleaded guilty to fatally shooting 23 people and injuring dozens more at an El Paso Walmart in 2019 is facing a July 5 sentencing hearing, which is expected to last several days.
Patrick Crusius, 24, will likely be sentenced to 90 consecutive life sentences during the July 5 sentencing hearing at the Albert Armendariz Sr. Federal Courthouse in Downtown El Paso.
The hearing is expected to take several days because dozens of victims and community members are expected to give victim impact statements as part of the sentencing hearing. Victim impact statements are anticipated to take two days, court documents state.
Here is what you need to know about the sentencing hearing.
Justice took nearly four years
The sentencing hearing will begin 1,433 days — three years, 11 months, three days — since the day the gunman drove nearly 700 miles to attack Hispanics.
The mass shooter arrived in El Paso the morning of Aug. 3, 2019, and parked in the East-Central El Paso Walmart at 7101 Gateway Blvd. West, near Cielo Vista Mall.
The shooter then got out of his vehicle and began shooting people in the parking lot, federal prosecutor Ian Martinez Hanna said during the gunman's February plea hearing. He continued into Walmart, where he fatally shot nine people in a bank inside the store. He then continued, shooting another nine in the aisles of the store.
The first 911 call reporting an active shooter was received at 10:39 a.m., and the first police officer arrived at the scene about 10:45 a.m., law enforcement officials said in the aftermath of the shooting.
The gunman used a GP WASR-10 semiautomatic rifle — a Romanian-made firearm that is a variant of the AK-47 assault rifle — and 7.62 x 39 mm hollow point ammunition, a federal indictment states.
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The gun and 1,000 rounds of ammunition were purchased June 19, 2019, on the internet by the gunman, the indictment states.
Minutes after the shooting, the gunman, then 21, emerged with his hands up from a vehicle that was stopped at a nearby intersection and told a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper, who was responding to the mass shooting, "I'm the shooter."
El Paso Police Department Detective Adrian Garcia described the gunman's surrender in the arrest warrant affidavit.
The gunman targeted Hispanics in an effort to dissuade Mexicans and other Hispanics from coming to the United States, federal prosecutors and court documents allege. Minutes before the shooting, he posted a racist manifesto online outlining his motives for committing one of the most deadly shootings in U.S. history.
The gunman confessed to law enforcement that "they (Mexicans and other Hispanics) were to blame" and "he was trying to defend his country," said Hanna, the federal prosecutor.
Prosecutors seeking life in prison for Patrick Crusius
Federal prosecutors are asking Judge David C. Guaderrama to sentence the gunman to life in prison on each of 90 charges the gunman pleaded guilty to during a Feb. 8 plea hearing.
Prosecutors want the life sentences to be served consecutively, meaning the gunman will spend the rest of his life in prison.
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Crusius pleaded guilty to the 90 charges as part of a plea agreement.
During the February plea hearing, the gunman pleaded guilty to 23 counts of hate crimes resulting in death, 23 counts of use of a firearm to commit murder during and in relation to a crime of violence, 22 counts of hate crimes involving an attempt to kill, and 22 counts of use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.
Courtroom proceedings for sentencing hearing
The opening day of the hearing will begin at 9 a.m. July 5 with a federal probation officer giving a report to the judge, federal prosecutors and defense lawyers on the gunman's background, health issues and any other issues that may affect any sentence given to him.
Prosecutors and defense lawyers will be allowed to bring up any objections to the report with the judge making a ruling on each objection.
Defense lawyers and the gunman will then be allowed an opportunity to speak to the judge. Normally, the defense lawyers will ask for their client to be given a lenient sentence and the defendant would tell the judge about his remorse for his actions.
Court documents do not state if the gunman will provide a statement to the judge.
In the afternoon, victim impact statements will be given starting at 1 p.m. Dozens of victims, victims' family members and community members are expected to give impact statements.
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Once the victim impact statements are completed, federal prosecutors will be given an opportunity to tell the judge why they believe the gunman should be sentenced to 90 consecutive life sentences.
Judge Guaderrama will then hand down the sentencing.
Courtroom decorum
The hearing will be held in courtroom 812, which is the largest courtroom in the federal courthouse. Major trials in El Paso have been held in that courtroom, including numerous high-profile drug cartel trials.
The hearing is open to the public. However, victims and their families will be given priority seating in the courtroom, a notice filed by the court officials states.
An overflow room will be setup at the courthouse once the courtroom is full. The proceedings will be shown on television screens in the overflow room.
The courthouse will provide interpretation services for Spanish speakers if needed, the notice states.
Anyone wishing to attend is asked to get to the courthouse well before the hearing begins.
Everyone who enters the courthouse will go through a security screening, including going through metal detectors and all bags will be scanned.
Security lines are expected to be long, the notice states.
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All electronic devices are prohibited from being brought into the courthouse, including cell phones, smart watches, tablets, laptop computers, MP3 players, iPods and audio recording devices. Exceptions will be made for devices needed to accommodate a disability, the notice states.
Other prohibited items include:
Tobacco and cannabis products
Bottles, beverage containers, paper cups, and food items
Chewing gum
Newspapers, books, and magazines
Dress code also will be enforced. The dress code includes:
No t-shirts or body shirts. A collared shirt is acceptable for men.
No flip flops or shower shoes.
No capri pants, shorts, or cut-offs.
No sunglasses, except prescription.
No headgear (caps, berets, or scarves), with an exception for religious headwear.
No tank tops, spaghetti straps or tube tops.
Face coverings are mandatory in the courtroom.
Defense lawyer to presiding judge: Who's who in Walmart shooting trial
The gunman will be in the courtroom through the dayslong hearing. During his February plea hearing, the gunman, who wore glasses and his brown hair was longer and unkempt, appeared in court wearing a blue jail jumpsuit, a face covering and was handcuffed in front tied to a metal chain around his waist.
Presiding Judge
Judge Guaderrama will preside over the hearing. Guaderrama started his federal judicial career in 2010 as a magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.
He was appointed by President Barrack Obama to serve as U.S. District Judge in 2012. He took senior judge status in May 2023.
Judge Guaderrama has handled major drug cartel, public corruption and other high-profile criminal cases.
Defense Team
The gunman's defense team is led by prominent El Paso lawyer Joe Spencer. Attorneys Rebecca Hudsmith, Mark Stevens, and Felix Valenzuela also are part of the team.
Spencer, who is also leading the gunman's defense in state court, has tried dozens of high-profile criminal cases in El Paso.
Spencer has successfully got acquittals or lenient sentences for several clients who were either facing the death penalty or life in prison.
Some of the cases include the Daniel Villegas saga, where Villegas was acquitted of murder after being wrongfully convicted and had already served 18 years in prison before his conviction was overturned. Prosecutors were seeking life in prison.
In a death penalty case, Spencer was able to get a jury to sentence a man convicted of capital murder of multiple persons to life in prison.
Another Spencer case involved successfully getting a plea agreement for 40 years in prison on a capital murder charge, where prosecutors were seeking life in prison. The defendant was a reputed gang member who pleaded guilty to intentionally crashing into and killing an El Paso police motorcycle officer.
Federal prosecutors
The U.S. Attorney's Office's federal prosecutors trying the mass shooting case includes Hanna, Gregory McDonald, Margaret Leachman, Michael Warbel, Kristen Clarke and Kyle Boyton.
The federal prosecutor team has decades of experience and have successfully tried dozens of high-profile drug cartel, murder, public corruption, illegal firearms and other criminal cases.
Victims' federal testimony impact on state gag unknown
Victim or family members providing victim impact statements will not violate a gag order issued in state case against the gunman, officials said.
The gag order issued in July 2022 by state district court Judge Sam Medrano, who is presiding over the state case against the gunman, prevents state prosecutors, defense lawyers, witnesses, family members of the victims, or anyone else associated with the state case from discussing it.
"Because I don't wanna violate the gag order, I don't want to comment on whether or not I have a concern on how they would affect our case," El Paso District Attorney Bill Hicks said. "But because they (victim impact statements) are testimony given in the course of a court hearing that by their very nature is an exclusion allowed for under the gag order. So anything that's made during a court hearing is excluded by the gag order. Anything that you say during a court hearing is not by its nature and cannot be a violation of the gag order."
Spencer declined to comment because of the gag order.
Medrano declined to comment on the case.
State case against Walmart shooter remains pending
The July sentencing of the gunman marks the end of the federal case and brings some justice to the victims and El Paso community. However, state charges against the gunman remain pending.
In state district court, the gunman faces one count of capital murder of multiple persons and 22 counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
The DA's office is seeking the death penalty. A trial date has not been set in state court.
The prosecutors and staff handling the case are working 40 hours a week on it and will be ready to try it when a trial date is set, Hicks said.
Prosecutors Loretta Hewitt, Rebecca Tarango and Ron Banerji are handling the case. Hicks, along with prosecutors Rick Locke and John Briggs, also are actively involved in preparing the case for trial, Hicks said.
Hicks declined to comment further because of the gag order.
Aaron Martinez may be reached at amartinez1@elpasotimes.com or on Twitter @AMartinezEPT.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Walmart mass shooter trial: What to know before federal sentencing
