Walmart shooter state trial comes at great cost emotionally and financially: Letters to the Editor

El Paso Times
·2 min read
The sculpture at Interstate 10 and Airway Blvd. was illuminated in orange to remember the 23 victims of the massacre at Walmart.
The sculpture at Interstate 10 and Airway Blvd. was illuminated in orange to remember the 23 victims of the massacre at Walmart.

Walmart shooter state trial comes at great cost emotionally and financially

I ‘d like to thank the El Paso Times and its reporter Aaron Martinez for the article on the expenses surrounding the legal trial of the Walmart shooter who was charged with the killing of 23 lives, mostly Mexican Americans.

The federal government already successfully sentenced him to 90 consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. This case came to an end Sept. 25, 2023, and the costs were paid for by the federal government. Regardless, the El Paso District Attorney’s Office continues to proceed with the death penalty for the killer. From the excellent analysis by Martinez, it appears the total cost of the state trial will be around $4 million, but as County Judge Ricardo Samaniego so astutely observes, the county is responsible for the cost of the defense and “it will probably cost us (the local taxpayers) $2 million.”

One could say that perhaps the only financial beneficiaries of this largess may well be the attorneys representing the defense, but even their lead attorney, Joe Spencer, mentioned about this case, “Well, the jury will hear what the federal government heard free from politics and reach the same decision. Only it will be at great cost emotionally to the victims and financially to the community.”Arturo MorenoWest-Central El Paso

More: El Paso district attorney borrowing county funds to hire staff for Walmart shooting case

Ban on vaccine mandate is mere pandering

I read that the state Legislature may ban employers from requiring the COVID vaccine. Of course, both the state of Texas, public schools, and employers already mandate various vaccines, vaccines that have higher risk profiles than the COVID vaccine. Given that the COVID vaccine has been shown to be a very low-risk vaccine and 400 Americans a day are still dying of COVID, it is only prudent to allow employers to mandate the vaccine, along with vaccines against polio, measles, tuberculosis, etc.Just because millions of Americans were taken in by malicious and untrue claims about this one vaccine, often by fraudsters selling "products" that they claimed would protect from the disease, doesn't mean that this dance by the Legislature to appease conspiracists and fraudsters should be addressed in state law. It is mere pandering.

Kathleen Bombach

West El Paso

More: Editorial endorsements in the Nov. 7 election; Early voting starts Monday, Oct. 23.

Support Galveston County voters, yes on Prop 12

My name is Hank Dugie and I am the Galveston County Treasurer. I campaigned and was elected by local voters to eliminate my own office to save them money. Nine other counties in Texas have already been afforded this opportunity, including El Paso County. Please vote yes on Proposition 12 to allow us to become the tenth. Thank you for your support of the wishes of Galveston County voters!

Hank Dugie

League City, Texas

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Walmart shooter state trial comes at great cost: Letters to the Editor