Feds Decline To Seek Death Penalty Against El Paso Walmart Shooter

The Justice Department will not seek death penalty against the man charged with killing many people at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas in 2019, because he was racially motivated.

Federal prosecutors made Tuesday their position clear a brief court filing The Daily Wire does not name the Texas native in its case against him, in line with its policy of denying mass shooters undeserved fame.

The gunman surrendered almost a mile from Walmart where 23 people were killed and more than two dozen others were hurt in August 2019. The alleged gunman confessed to his crime. “the shooter,” according to an arrest affidavit.

According to police, the shooter also claimed that he planned to attack the target and drove from Allen, Texas, to El Paso border to do it. “Mexicans.” In addition, authorities believe he posted a manifesto online that espoused white nationalist and anti-immigrant sentiments, condemning the ”Hispanic invasion” of the stateAmong other things.

Federal authorities have dozens of charges against the shooter. hate crime and firearm charges. He entered a written plea of not guilty He was convicted of federal charges in 2020 and is now facing life imprisonment in that case. After delays in the courts, his federal trial is set to begin in January 2024. fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Timing matters. A federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment The Justice Department stated that the attorney general would decide whether the death penalty will be sought in 2020. “at a later time.”

Attorney General Merrick Grland paused federal executions in the summer of 2021 pending a review of the Justice Department’s policies and procedures after the Trump administration resumed putting inmates to death For the first time in 17-years. President Joe Biden had made it a campaign promise to work for the elimination of capital punishment at the federal level.

El Paso Walmart gunman has also pleaded guilty to the state capital murder charges, for which he could still be sentenced to death. In that case, a trial date is not yet known. according to El Paso Matters.