Defense attorneys in Walmart case accuse D.A., assistants of thwarting justice system

EL PASO, Texas -- The defense attorneys representing the accused Walmart shooter have accused District Attorney Yvonne Rosales and her assistants of not complying with the legal process in a new filing in the case.

The new filing from defense attorneys Mark Stevens, Joe Spencer, and Felix Valenzuela reads, "It is completely unexplainable why three public servants, individuals whose 'loyalty and focus [is] on improving the criminal justice system,' are thwarting the same criminal justice system to which they swear loyalty!"

The defense team accuses Rosales, Assistant District Attorney Curtis Cox, and Vinton Municipal Court Judge Roger Rodriguez of absconding and evading legal service of the subpoenas on them.

The filing says the defense has tried 15 times to locate Rosales with no success. They claim to have attempted to serve her at her office, home, and cell phone. The filing also claims there have been approximately five attempts to serve Cox without success.

As for Rodriguez, the defense did not provide a number of how many times they have tried to locate him, only saying, "The sheer number of attempts at service are entirely extraordinary."

"Instead of complying with the legal process, these public servants are hiding by self-created smoke-screens and claiming ignorance of the substance of Court proceedings," the filing said.

The filing on Monday was a response to the State's objection from last week that demanded the court to provide more details on an upcoming status hearing at the end of the month. The defense is asking the judge to continue with the scheduled hearing.

Judge Sam Medrano scheduled a status hearing for November 30 to review the ad litem report that was filed by attorney Justin Underwood, who is representing the Hoffmann family. The ad litem report accused a "representative" to Rosales, Vinton Municipal Court Judge Roger Rodriguez, of impersonating and threatening the family of a Walmart victim.

The report provided audio tapes and transcriptions of alleged conversations between Rodriguez and the Hoffmann family.

During an October 11 status hearing after the ad litem report was published, ADA Cox said his office needed 45 days to review the tapes and transcriptions.

Cox withdrew himself from the case less than a month later on November 3.

Assistant District Attorney Scott Ferguson filed an objection to the hearing on November 7 and asked the court for more clarification on the upcoming status hearing.

The objection says that status hearings in El Paso county normally deal with "mundane matters" such as case scheduling.

"The State has abundant reasons for concern that the 'Status Hearing' now scheduled for November 30, 2022, will entail significantly different matters and activity, which the State is currently unable to prepare for, given the lack of notice and clarity so far provided by the Court," Ferguson wrote in the objection.

The defense team in the Walmart case claims the State did know about the details of the upcoming status hearing by using the transcript from the October 11 hearing.

Judge Medrano said in that hearing, "I'm inclined to schedule this for a hearing where the ad litem report can be reviewed by both sides through witnesses and other matters."