EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — El Paso District Attorney James Montoya announced that his office will no longer seek the death penalty for confessed Walmart shooter Patrick Crusius during a news conference on Tuesday.
Montoya said that the decision comes after he met with the victims’ families, saying “the vast majority want the case to be over and done with.”
However, not everyone agrees with the DA’s decision, including Leta and Ricardo Cuellar, sister and brother-in-law of Jordan Anchondo.
Jordan Anchondo and her husband, Andre Anchondo, died that day protecting each other and their two-month-old baby from the gunfire.
“The person responsible didn’t just take lives. He terrorized families. He destroyed futures. He inflicted lifelong trauma on so many people. This wasn’t a spontaneous act. This was deliberate. This was thought out. So, choosing not to pursue the harshest, you know, punishment sends the wrong message to me, in my opinion, about accountability and justice,” Leta Cuellar said.
Leta Cuellar added that the crime in this case does not fit the punishment.
“He wrote a manifesto and, you know, the two questions that are asked: Is he still considered a danger to his community? Of course he is. Looks like he will spend the rest of his life in the prison. And in my opinion, I guarantee you that his mindset will not change,” Ricardo Cuellar said.
With the death penalty off the table, the gunman is now scheduled to enter a guilty plea on April 21.
As we previously reported, Crusius pleaded guilty to federal charges back in July 2023 and was sentenced to 90 consecutive life sentences. Crusius murdered 23 people at the Cielo Vista Walmart store on Aug. 3, 2019, and wounded more than 20 others.
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