Eight defense attorneys who represented the man who killed 23 people at an El Paso Walmart in 2019 were paid $745,000 to defend him against federal hate crimes and weapons charges, according to a document filed in federal court this week.
Patrick Crusius, who will turn 27 later this month, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in El Paso in 2023 to 45 counts of committing hate crimes and 45 counts of using a firearm to kill or commit violence. He pleaded guilty after the U.S. Justice Department decided not to seek the death penalty, and he was sentenced by U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama to 90 consecutive life terms in prison.
Earlier this year, the gunman also pleaded guilty to state charges of capital murder and assault with a deadly weapon and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
In his guilty pleas, Crusius acknowledged that he attacked the Cielo Vista Walmart on Aug. 3, 2019, in an effort to stop “the Hispanic invasion of Texas,” as he wrote in an online manifesto shortly before the mass shooting.
Because Crusius met state and federal standards as an indigent defendant, his legal bills were paid by taxpayers. Records show that defense lawyers were paid a total of $1.3 million to represent Crusius in potential death penalty cases in federal and state court.
Joe Spencer, the lead defense attorney in both the state and federal trials, has previously said capital cases by their nature are complicated and expensive. He said defense attorneys were conservative in their billings.
Crusius was represented by two groups of lawyers in the federal case, who were paid a combined $745,041.47 over the past five years, according to a report filed by defense attorneys in federal court on Monday.
The first group of four attorneys represented him from February 2020, when he was initially indicted on federal charges, until September 2020, when they withdrew from the case. Their reasons for withdrawing remain sealed in federal court filings.
El Paso attorney Cori Ann Harbour was paid $68,030.60 for her work on that initial team. Jane Fisher-Bryalsen of Denver was paid $56,543.92, Kathleen McGuire of Littleton, Colorado, was paid $50,220.80, and David Lane of Denver was paid $41,553.77. Louis Lopez Jr. of El Paso was part of the original defense team but did not submit any vouchers for payment, according to the disclosure filed Monday in federal court.
From September 2020 forward, Crusius was represented in the federal case by three private attorneys appointed by the court and by a public defender. The three private attorneys – Spencer and Felix Valenzuela of El Paso, and Mark Stevens of San Antonio – also represented the gunman in the state prosecution.
Spencer, who was designated lead counsel, was paid $214,054.96 since September 2020, according to the filing. Valenzuela was paid $203,126.20, and Stevens received $111,511.22. Federal Public Defender Rebecca Hudsmith is paid by her office and did not submit payment vouchers to the court.
Defense lawyers agreed at a hearing in May to provide a basic accounting of payments to defense attorneys in the federal case. The hearing focused on what records ordered sealed by Guaderrama during the case should be unsealed. Some of the sealed records include information about attorney payments.
On Thursday, Guaderrama issued an order granting a 2023 motion by El Paso Matters to intervene in the case for the purpose of arguing for the unsealing of records. He has not yet set future hearings on the issue of unsealing records.
The payment information released for the federal case is more limited than information provided by El Paso County on the cost of the state prosecution.
Responding to open records requests from the media, El Paso County reported that the defense and prosecution had spent $6 million on the Crusius case, which includes payments to lawyers, investigators and expert witnesses.
The county expenditures included $602,000 in payments to Spencer, Valenzuela and Stevens over five years.
The post Attorneys were paid $745,000 to represent El Paso Walmart gunman in federal court appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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