Last February, Patrick Crusius pleaded guilty.
Photo: MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images
A US federal judge postponed until July 5 the start of the sentencing hearing for Patrick Crusiuswho pleaded guilty to a attack perpetrated in 2019 in a supermarket with a majority Hispanic clientele in El Paso (Texas), which left 23 dead and 23 wounded.
Initially, June 30 had been determined as the date to issue a sentencebut at the request of both the United States Department of Justice and the victims’ lawyers, federal magistrate David Guaderrama agreed to postpone the hearing for another week, local media reported Thursday.
On August 3, 2019, Crusius, then 21 years old, attacked the public with a WASR-10 semi-automatic rifle at an El Paso Walmart store, causing the largest massacre in the US targeting Latinos.
The sentencing hearing is expected to include testimony about the impact the attack had on surviving victims and their families as well as a statement from the prosecution, and will last more than three days, the El Paso Times reported today.
Last February, Crusius pleaded guilty of 23 counts of hate crime, 23 counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a violent crime, 22 counts of attempted murder, and 22 counts of use of a firearm in that attempt.
In exchange for your admission of charges and the waiver of your right to appeal, government did not ask for the death penalty and the defendant faces the possibility of 90 consecutive prison sentences for life.
Crusius told investigators that he chose the Walmart store for his attack because it is close to the US border with Mexico and because it is frequented by Hispanic customers, according to trial documents.
He first visited the store without carrying weapons and returned equipped with ear muffs, plastic eye glasses, and a semi-automatic rifle with which he fired indiscriminately.
An El Paso District Attorney’s indictment for a state trial against Crusius for the killing is still pending.
Keep reading:
– Perpetrator of the massacre in El Paso where 23 people died pleaded guilty
– They remember the victims of the El Paso massacre, the worst racist attack against Latinos in the US.
– Hate-motivated massacres reached the highest number recorded in the US in 2019.
