EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Saying the only way he will leave prison will be in a coffin, a state district judge on Monday accepted the guilty pleas of El Paso Walmart shooter Patrick Wood Crusius and sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Crusius, a North Texas resident, posted an online manifesto decrying the “Hispanic” invasion of Texas and drove 10 hours to El Paso, killing 23 people and wounding 22 with a rifle in the parking lot and inside the Walmart store near Cielo Vista Mall on Aug. 3, 2019.
“As you remain locked up, remember this: You did not divide this city; you strengthened it,” Medrano told Crusius during the 409th Judicial District court hearing. “El Paso rose stronger and braver. The community you tried to break has become a symbol of resilience, love versus hate, and endurance” in the face of evil.
Several people involved in the case expressed hope that Monday’s hearing, in which Crusius pled guilty to multiple capital murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, would bring closure to survivors and relatives of the victims of the mass shooting. Delays dogged the state case against Crusius, who in 2023 was sentenced to 90 consecutive life terms on hate crime charges by a federal judge.
Dressed in an orange-and-white jail uniform and a black bulletproof vest, Crusius only spoke when he was in court. Medrano repeatedly asked him if he understood the charges and his plea.
His attorney, Joe Spencer, addressed the court at length to paint a picture of a mentally troubled young man who came to a peaceful community to inflict unimaginable horror.
He said his client suffers from schizoaffective disorder, has “profound breaks” with reality, and suffers from hallucinations and delusional thinking. He said Crusius turned to “the darkest corners” of the internet and was influenced by the political rhetoric of the time – when illegal immigration was a flashpoint in the discourse.
The attorney said Crusius believed he was acting in the direction of the president (Trump, during his first term); he believed this was what the president was telling him,” Spencer said. “This explanation of his severe mental illness and political environment does not excuse the horrific violence. […] He bears responsibility for his actions and the damage” that he caused.
El Paso District Attorney James Montoya told the court that if the case had gone to trial, the state would have demonstrated Crusius’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
He thanked first responders for their actions on Aug. 3 and apologized to some of the victims’ survivors for one of his predecessors’ “gross and abominable misconduct.” But he said he hopes the focus now will be on the victims, their family members, and survivors.
Medrano recessed the court and said he would allow survivors and the victims’ family members to speak in the afternoon.
