Walmart shooter defense team: trial may begin in 2 years due to evidence concerns

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- Victims of the 2019 Walmart mass shooting may now have to wait longer to get closure as Monday's scheduling hearing in the state's case revealed concerns in evidence filing.

The hearing was set to discuss a potential trial date, instead Patrick Crusius’ defense team said it may take upwards of 2 years to get there. They claim the state's possession of evidence, also known as discovery, is slowing down the process. 

Defense attorney, Joe Spencer, told the court the DA’s office has only provided them with about 58% of the total evidence, but has issues with their organization.

Spencer said only a portion of it was in order, while the rest of it was filled with duplicates, corrupt files, not properly labeled, and claimed a file gave them a computer virus.

"The virus can infect not only our computer, but it actually can have the attacker access our computer and find out what we're looking at, what we have seen," he said.

Spencer adds it was either intentional or negligent on their part, the state said they were not aware of the virus.

Meantime, District attorney Bill Hicks, said his office is experiencing a lot of the same issues with evidence they are receiving from law enforcement and said they are turning over discoveries in a timely manner.

Hicks said he is confident they can provide all the discovery to the defense by December.

Presiding Judge Sam Medrano set another scheduling hearing in January to get a better idea of the timeline.