Patrick Crusius, 26, the mass shooter who killed 23 people in an El Paso Walmart in 2019, is set to avoid the death penalty after accepting a plea deal. Following his guilty plea to hate crimes and gun charges in 2023, he was already sentenced to 90 consecutive life sentences.
According to the Daily Mail, Crusius will accept the plea deal offered by El Paso County District Attorney James Montoya in March on Monday, April 21. This comes after federal prosecutors eliminated the death penalty during the Biden administration. According to CNN, the decision-making process was never made clear.
Despite his plea deal offer, DA Montoya believes Crusius deserves the death penalty. However, after meeting with the families of the victims, he decided that a plea deal was the best option. According to reports, the majority wanted to conclude the state court case rather than extend it further.
“The vast majority of them want this case over and done with as quickly as possible,” Montoya told the court. He added that if the state seeks the death penalty, the case could take years to resolve through hearings and appeals. “I could see a worst-case scenario where this would not go to trial until 2028 if we continued to seek the death penalty,” she said.
This plea agreement has not been without controversy, as Texas Governor Greg Abbott believes he should face the death penalty. “I have heard about it. “To be honest, I believe the guy deserves the death penalty,” Abbot said. “Any shooting like that is what capital punishment is for.”
Mass Shooting
On August 3, 2019, after driving more than ten hours from his Dallas home, Crusius, then 21, began shooting people at the El Paso Walmart, located at 7101 Gateway West Blvd.
He continued firing his AK-style rifle after entering the store. After leaving the store, he opened fire on a vehicle, killing an elderly man and injuring his wife.
In total, Patrick Crusius murdered 23 people in cold blood. He was arrested shortly after at a local intersection, where he confessed to the massacre to the arresting officers.
Crusius’ online message posted prior to the massacre revealed that he carried it out “in response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas.”
In federal court, Patrick Crusius was sentenced to 90 consecutive life sentences in 2023. CNN reported that half of the charges were hate crimes. Crusius agreed to pay more than $5 million to the people he brutally murdered.
