Report: DA’s Office intimidated witness in Walmart shooting case
EL PASO, Texas -- The latest filing in the state case of the Walmart shooting contains strong allegations of wrongdoing -- but none of them against accused gunman Patrick Crusius.
A findings report by a court-appointed lawyer for the family of a Walmart shooting victim implicates El Paso District Attorney Yvonne Rosales, Assistant District Attorney Curtis Cox and municipal court Judge Roger Rodriguez.
The report has evidence that attorney Justin Underwood, who represents the family of shooting victim, Wilhelm Hoffman, claims the DA's office used threats and even firearms to intimidate the Hoffman family.
According to the document ABC-7 obtained minutes after it was filed, the attorney for the Hoffmann family said they were "continuously victimized" by an employee of the DA's office.
In the report, Hoffman said someone at the DA's office was behind the emails that were sent to local media. Back in August, several e-mails were sent to local media organizations alleging they were part of the Hoffman family.
This happened shortly after the gag order was issued by Judge Sam Medrano.
In the report, Underwood said the emails originated from the phone of Rosa Maria Valdez Garcia, the widow of Alexander Hoffmann.
He said Anne and Roger Rodriguez used Valdez Garcia's phone to compose and send the emails. The report alleges, she did it with the assistance of Roger Rodriguez.
Underwood assures Valdez Garcia had no knowledge of what the e-mails contained or where they were being sent.
Later, Underwood said John Briggs, the former lead prosecutor on the Crusius case, told Underwood he thought the e-mail attributed to the Hoffman family was a product of Roger Rodriguez.
Briggs was terminated from the office of the District Attorney three days later.
According to the report on one occasion, Roger Rodriguez threatened Valdez Garcia to not betray him. He said he had "snipers everywhere."
The report that said the family is in constant fear of retaliation by the District Attorney's office and Roger Rodriguez.
Underwood said the staff of the DA's office did this to advance their own agenda.
Underwood Report by KVIA ABC-7 on Scribd
