Prosecution, defense ask judge to further delay possible trial in Walmart mass shooting case

by Robert Moore

January 27, 2025

A trial date in the 2019 Walmart mass shooting could be pushed back by months under a motion filed Monday by defense attorneys and prosecutors.

The agreed motion seeks to suspend any pretrial hearings until after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rules on an issue related to three orders issued by the judge in the case, 409th District Judge Sam Medrano.

Judges are not required to grant agreed motions from parties in cases, but they usually do. Medrano had not ruled on the motion as of Monday afternoon.

A scheduling order issued in September by Medrano outlined a series of pretrial hearings that could have led to a trial sometime in early 2026, almost seven years after the shooting. But that schedule already became moot when the first planned hearing, on Jan. 13, was canceled because Medrano was still hearing defense and prosecution motions from the fall and winter of 2024.

District Attorney James Montoya, who took office Jan. 1 after defeating appointed incumbent Bill Hicks in the November general election, also still must decide whether to continue to seek the death penalty against Patrick Crusius, the man accused of killing 23 people and wounding 22 others in a racism-inspired rampage at the Cielo Vista Walmart on Aug. 3, 2019.

The previous three district attorneys – Jaime Esparza, Yvonne Rosales and Hicks – favored pursuing the death penalty. Montoya also said at the beginning of the 2024 campaign that he supported seeking the death penalty but modified his stance over the year, saying at the end of the campaign that he needed to review evidence in the case once he took office before making a decision.

The motion filed Monday to suspend pretrial activity involves a motion filed by Hicks regarding three “ex parte” motions Medrano filed with knowledge of defense lawyers but not prosecutors. 

Defense lawyers said the orders in 2021 and 2023 involved directives to preserve videos of Crusius’ detention, prevent jailers from providing prosecutors with information about their visits with Crusius, and for medical treatment. 

Hicks sought a writ of mandamus in October from the 8th Court of Appeals to order Medrano to make the motions public. The 8th Court of Appeals granted the writ of mandamus in December and ordered Medrano to vacate the orders, but did not order them made public.

Defense lawyers in late December appealed the 8th Court decision to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state’s highest criminal court, which quickly blocked the lower appellate court ruling while it considered the case.

The agreed motion filed Monday by the prosecution and defense asks that Medrano delay all pretrial activity until the Court of Criminal Appeals makes a decision on the mandamus action. 

“To avoid any conflict with the decision of the Court of Criminal Appeals, to assist this court in decisions to be made on pending and future matters, and for judicial economy, the parties request that this court forgo the scheduling of further pretrial proceedings in this court until mandamus proceedings in the Court of Criminal Appeals have been concluded,” said the motion, which was signed by defense lawyers and the District Attorney’s Office.

Prosecutors and defense lawyers are prohibited from discussing the case with the media under a gag order Medrano issued in 2022.

When the Court of Criminal Appeals might rule is unclear, but it’s likely to take months at a minimum. The court hasn’t yet set deadlines for briefs from the defense and prosecution, and hasn’t scheduled oral arguments.

Crusius, now 26, of Allen, Texas, is being held in the El Paso County Jail while awaiting trial on state charges of capital murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

He pleaded guilty in 2023 to federal hate crimes and weapons charges after the U.S. Department of Justice decided not to seek the death penalty. He admitted in his plea that he was the gunman at the Walmart and that he authored a screed before the shooting that said the attack was intended to “stop the Hispanic invasion of Texas.”

Crusius was sentenced to 90 consecutive life terms in federal prison, which carries no possibility of parole. U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama recommended that Crusius serve his sentence in the nation’s most secure prison – the so-called “supermax” prison in Colorado – but the federal Bureau of Prisons is not bound by that recommendation.