EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – Friday evening, more than two and a half years after a gunman entered the Cielo Vista Walmart and killed 23 shoppers and injured scores more, a trial date has been set for the Federal case.
According to court documents obtained by KTSM 9 News, Patrick Crusius’ federal trial will get underway on January 8, 2024, five years following the August 3, 2019 massacre.
In February of 2020, the accused gunman was first given a 90-count indictment, charging him with 22 counts of hate crimes resulting in death, 23 hate crimes involving an attempt to kill, and 45 counts of discharging a firearm in relation to the hate crimes.
Five months later, on July 9, the shooter was re-indicted via a superseding indictment stemming from the death of a hospitalized shooting victim.
The charges carry a maximum penalty of death or life imprisonment, however the Attorney General will decide whether to seek the death penalty at a later time.
U.S. District Judge David C. Guaderrama is the judge in the case, with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ian Hanna and Greg McDonald of the Western District of Texas, and U.S. Department of Justice Trial Attorneys Tim Visser and Michael Warbel making up the prosecution team.
There is no word yet from the District Attorney’s Office on the timeline for the local trial against the gunman.
The order setting the court date is included below:
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