Federal hearing scheduled to discuss death penalty for accused Walmart mass shooter

EL PASO, Texas– Federal Judge David Guaderrama is ordering prosecutors and defense attorneys to agree on a date for a hearing to discuss whether accused Walmart mass shooter Patrick Crusius will face the federal death penalty.

The order, issued Thursday, gives both parties until September 16th to agree on a deadline for prosecutors to announce whether they will seek the capital punishment for Crusius.

Federal prosecutors must get clearance from US Attorney General Merrick Garland to seek the maximum penalty against Crusius, who faces a 90-count indictment, including 22 counts of hate crimes resulting in death, 23 hate crimes involving an attempt to kill, and 45 counts of discharging a firearm.

Crusius is accused of killing 23 people and injuring dozens during an El Paso massacre on August 3, 2019. He is being prosecuted in both state and federal courts. While state prosecutors have indicated they will seek the death penalty, federal attorneys have not.

At the time of his federal indictment in February, 2020, the DOJ released a statement saying, “Upon conviction, the charges in the indictment call for the death penalty or life imprisonment. The Attorney General will decide whether to seek the death penalty at a later time.”

More than two years later, Garland and the DOJ have yet to announce their decision.

Moreover, Garland imposed a moratorium on federal executions in July 2021, until the Department of Justice conducted a review of policies and procedures.

Crusius' is not the only accused mass shooter waiting for a death penalty determination from the DOJ.

According to USA Today, during a hearing in June, the magistrate judge presiding over the hearing for Payton Gendron urged prosecutors to expedite their decision on capital punishment. The 19-year-old is accused of killing 10 at a supermarket in Buffalo in an attack eerily similar to the one in El Paso.

The Assistant U.S. Attorney told the judge the deliberation would "serious, thorough" and as "expedited" as possible, but the sole decision lied in the hands of Attorney General Garland.

It is unclear when the DOJ will finalize its review of policies and procedures.

A memo issued in January by Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco indicated the review is ongoing and released guidance to streamline cases where prosecutors do not seek the death penalty, but there was no guidance for cases that do.

El Paso’s Judge Guaderrama has set a deadline of January, 2024 for Crusius trial to begin.