The judge in the El Paso massacre case asks to be reassigned

A Texas judge assigned to the mass shooting case at a Walmart in El Paso has asked to be reassigned.

Judge Angie Juarez Barill was assigned the case of suspected gunman Patrick Crusius. She asked for the case to be reassigned or transferred to a different judge because she knew one of the deceased’s family members and she is running for chief justice for the 8th court of appeals, the El Paso District Court said in a statement.

Since she will not run for re-election for her current position, her term will end in December 2020. “A case of this magnitude should begin with a judge who can be reasonably sure to see it through to its conclusion,” she said.

Crusius, 21, of Allen, Texas, has been charged with capital murder in the Aug. 3 massacre that left 22 people dead and more than two dozen wounded. He is being held without bond.

While he has been cooperative, he’s shown no remorse for the shooting, police said.

Before the massacre, Crusius is believed to have authored a racist, anti-immigrant document that laid out a dark vision of America overrun by Hispanic immigrants.

The four-page document, titled “The Inconvenient Truth,” was published on the online message board 8chan about 20 minutes before the shooting. It’s filled with white supremacist language and racist hatred aimed at immigrants and Latinos, and the author says he encourages immigrants to return to their home countries.

District Attorney Jaime Esparza intends to seek the death penalty against him.