Federal judge takes initial steps to unseal court records in Walmart mass shooting

by Robert Moore

May 1, 2025

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U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama took initial steps Thursday toward making public a number of documents that were sealed in the federal court case against the gunman who attacked an El Paso Walmart in 2019.

Federal Public Defender Rebecca Hudsmith said she objected to unsealing detailed billing records submitted by the defense lawyers appointed to the case, saying those were administrative and not judicial records. But she told Guaderrama she could put together a summary that would break out how much each member of the defense team was paid by the federal government to defend the gunman.

Guaderrama gave her 60 days to put together her proposal. He also asked defense and prosecution attorneys to “cull out those things that don’t need to be sealed,” which would allow him to focus future hearings.

Hudsmith said federal courts need more guidance from appellate courts, perhaps including the U.S. Supreme Court, on how to apply motions to unseal court records the Criminal Justice Act, a 1964 law that guides the appointment and payment for lawyers who represent indigent defendants. Guaderrama said he agreed.

“I wasn’t expecting it to be this complicated,” the judge said.

Guaderrama said he was inclined to grant a request from El Paso Matters to intervene in the case to argue for public release of currently sealed documents. That would allow the news organization’s attorneys – working for free on behalf of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press – to file formal arguments with the court.

Courts seal a variety of records while proceedings are underway. Some of the records are ex parte, meaning filed by one party without the knowledge of the other party to protect strategic or other confidential information. 

Patrick Crusius, the gunman in the Aug. 3, 2019, mass shooting at the Cielo Vista Walmart, pleaded guilty to federal and state charges and received 113 life sentences. Because he pleaded guilty, no trials were conducted and much of the evidence in the attack is not available to the public.

Crusius, now 26, pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes and weapons charges in 2023 and was sentenced to 90 consecutive life terms in federal prison. In April 2025, he pleaded guilty to state charges of capital murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and was sentenced to 23 life terms in state prison.

In his guilty pleas, Crusius acknowledged that he killed 23 people and wounded 22 others in an Aug. 3, 2019, attack on the Walmart. He acknowledged posting a manifesto on the internet shortly before the attack saying his aim was to stop what he called “the Hispanic invasion of Texas.”

In an April 25 order setting Thursday’s status conference, Guaderrama said with no other criminal proceedings pending for Crusius, he “is presently inclined to unseal all of the sealed documents on the federal case docket – including documents filed ex parte and docket entries designated as ‘highly sensitive documents.’”

In the order, Guaderrama said he is “actively researching whether the Presentence Investigation Report … (and/or the various docket entries associated with it) should remain sealed under Fifth Circuit precedent.” The presentence investigation for Crusius was done by a federal probation officer and contains extensive detail about his mental health history, any prior criminal history and other issues, according to statements presented at his sentencing in July 2023.

The Crusius federal docket has 320 entries, many with multiple exhibits attached. More than 70 entries have notations indicating they were sealed.

At Thursday’s hearing, Guaderrama expressed interest in unsealing two documents that related to David Lane, a Colorado attorney who initially represented Crusius on federal charges but was “terminated” from the case in September 2020, according to court records.

In November 2023, prosecutors filed a motion to unseal eight documents that they had submitted under seal during the proceedings, although it requested that two of the documents be redacted to protect information that identified victims.

Later in November 2023, El Paso Matters filed a motion with Guaderrama seeking to intervene in the case to request that he unseal all of the records that had been sealed in the case. The prosecution took no stance on the request, but defense attorneys objected, saying unsealing the information could impact the defendant’s fair trial rights in the then-pending state case. 

Defense lawyers also said unsealing the records, many of which dealt with the appointment of defense counsel and experts, would give prosecutors unfair insight into defense strategy.

Judge Sam Medrano of the 409th District Court also sealed numerous motions and orders in the state prosecution of Crusius, but no motions have yet been unfiled in that case.