A Texas district prosecutor said Tuesday that he will not remain the death penalty against the gunman who killed 23 people in a racial motivation attack in the Walmart step in 2019.
Patrick Crusius is expected to declare state charges in exchange for a life -free life sentence, and there are no appeals in the case, said the district prosecutor of El Paso, James Montoya.
Crusius, now 26 years old, led from Allen, Texas, to the armed passage with a semi-automatic variant of an AK-47 rifle and opened fire against Walmart buyers during an attack in which he attacked Mexicans on August 3, 2019.
When leaving the death penalty, Montoya said he spoke with the families of the victims, a “strong consensus” of which he wanted to “see the case concluded as quickly as possible, even if that meant that he no longer pursue the death penalty.”
“Withdrawing the death penalty has nothing to do with my position on capital punishment, nor is it a matter of guilt or lack of evidence. I believe in the death penalty,” Montoya said in a statement.
“It is about allowing the families of the 23 victims who lost their lives on that horrible day, and the 22 injured, finally have a resolution in our judicial system,” he said.
Twenty -two people were killed in the attack, and a victim 23 died nine months later because of the injuries suffered in the shooting.
Minutes before the attack, Crusius published a racist rule full of hate online in which he referred to an “invasion” of immigrants to the United States, said the Department of Justice.
Crusius is already serving 90 consecutive living conditions in prison after declaring himself guilty of federal charges of hate crimes in the attack. He declared himself guilty in the federal case in February 2023 after federal prosecutors said they would not look for the death penalty.
Although the guilt declaration resolved the federal case, Crusius was also accused of state counts.
He is scheduled to declare himself guilty of state positions on April 21, said the Office of the District Prosecutor.
“Now, nobody in this community will have to listen to the author’s name again,” said Montoya. “No more audiences. No more appeals. He will die in prison.”
