El Paso District Attorney says Walmart shooting state trial could take years
EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — A status hearing for the Walmart mass shooting case was held on Wednesday at the El Paso County courthouse.
The status hearing was called by Judge Sam Medrano of the 409th District Court but was held in chambers, behind closed doors.
It started promptly at 1:30 p.m. with El Paso’s District Attorney Bill Hicks and the defense team of the suspected shooter, Patrick Crusius arriving moments before.
The hearing lasted about 45 minutes, as the parties involved stepped out of the chambers at around 2:15 p.m.
Crusius’ defense team quickly made their way to the elevators before the media could ask any questions.
The District Attorney provided a brief update, without going into specifics as the case remains under a gag order.
Hicks said the judge, the defense team and himself were able to discuss how the federal government and state plan to move forward with the high-profile case.
“I want to thank Judge Medrano for having the attorneys up today to speak, frankly we were able to have a very good discussion, the defense and the state were able to discuss the case, discuss where we are with the judge and with each other," Hicks said.
He added that Crusius' defense team stated they are focused on closing out the federal case in order to allow the state case to begin.
“We can’t do anything until the federal prosecution is done, they of course have the federal plea and the sentencing which I don’t know when that’ll be, once the federal sentencing is over with, then he’d hopefully come into state custody and then we’d set a trial date after that," Hicks said.
When asked when the state believes they will be able to begin prosecuting the case, Hicks responded: “I’m not sure about 2024, maybe 2025 I’m just not sure. That’s completely up to the judge, we’d have to meet again in order to discuss that.”
On Jan. 17, the federal prosecutors announced they would not be seeking the death penalty against Crusius.
Following the announcement, El Paso’s DA Bill Hicks said the state is seeking the death penalty in the state trial.
The next court re-arraignment is set for Feb. 8 at El Paso’s federal courthouse.
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