Nearly a dozen family members of people attacked in the El Paso mass shooting were in court as the trial was once again delayed. Instead, the judge scheduled a hearing next month to address allegations of prosecutorial misconduct against the District Attorney’s Office.
Victims' relatives and survivors watched as the now 26-year-old gunman entered the courtroom in handcuffs wearing a bulletproof vest, and an orange and white jail jumpsuit.
State district court judge Sam Medrano heard allegations of prosecutorial misconduct brought by the gunman's attorneys. They also involve past El Paso district attorneys including one that resigned rather than face removal in a trial.
Those allegations include interfering with witnesses, violating the court’s gag order and inappropriately intercepting confidential and privileged conversations between the gunman and his attorneys.
The hearing ended with no talk of scheduling a trial.
Christopher Morales’ aunt was killed and mother injured in the 2019 attack targeting Latinos.
“This is not about him. He brutally slaughtered people that day. This is not OK,” Morales said outside the courtroom after the hearing.
“We need our community to get behind us and to get mad because it could’ve been any one of your families.”
Morales said the criminal justice system has let him and other victims' families down.
“We need justice so that we can move on,” Morales said.
Patrick Crusius, the white supremacist who murdered 23 people and injured dozens more in an attack at a Walmart on August 3, 2019, is charged with capital murder and at least a dozen aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charges by the state of Texas.
He faces the death penalty in the state version of the case. Last year, he was sentenced to 90 consecutive life sentences in federal court for murder and hate crimes. He pleaded guilty after federal prosecutors said they would not pursue the death penalty against him.
Judge Medrano said he wants to see a schedule for a trial the case by the end of the month. And, he also scheduled a hearing for October 31 over allegations against the District Attorney’s Office.
This week, the gunman’s attorneys asked Judge Medrano to dismiss Crusius’ indictment or remove the death penalty from the case.
The defense team also alleges case documents with the district attorney office’s watermark were posted to the online forum Reddit four years ago.
Talking to media after Thursday's hearing, District Attorney Bill Hicks dismissed the allegations. Hicks also said the allegations were an attempt to delay the case from going to trial.
The two sides have only agreed that at least 1,000 people need to be a part of jury selection for the trial.
But the defense’s allegations this week focused more on the administrations of District Attorneys Jaime Esparza, Yvonne Rosales and Bill Hicks.
Attorneys for the gunman say misconduct by the El Paso County District Attorney’s Office stem back to Esparza’s administration that ended in 2020. They allege that as early as August 25, 2019, the DA’s office recorded 15 phone calls or about 3-and-a-half- hour conversations between Crusius and his attorneys.
They allege the last recording was in January 2021 when Rosales took office. The gunman’s defense attorneys argue the conversations are protected by attorney-client privilege.
Crusius’ attorneys also rehashed allegations of misconduct during Rosales’ administration between 2021 and 2022. Their court filing focused on Rosales’ legal advisor Roger Rodriguez, who was allowed in a meeting with victims’ families after a hearing in the case during the summer of 2022.
Rodriguez allegedly used the family of Alexander Gerhard Hoffman, a victim in the shooting, to attack Judge Medrano and a political opponent with an email sent to El Paso media.
The defense’s filing also recalls allegations Rodriguez threatened the family when they grew suspicious of his motives.
“The DA’s Office has not yet produced any documentation or information about its office’s contact with the Hoffman family or any subsequent internal investigation, if one was conducted by this administration, or the role played by Rosales, Cox or anyone else at the DA’s Office in impermissible conduct; or similar involvement with other potential witnesses, including other victims’ family members,” their filing states.
Yvonne Rosales resigned in December 2022 before facing a suspension from office and decided not to undergo a trial of alleged “misconduct” and “incompetence” as the county’s lead prosecutor.
Republican Governor Greg Abbott accepted the Democrat’s resignation and replaced her with a member of his own party. Abbott appointed Bill Hicks who is running for re-election against Democrat James Montoya on the November ballot.
Crusius’ attorneys also allege Hicks’ administration has violated Judge Medrano’s gag order in the case by talking about the case with the media. They allege after a closed-door discussion in February, Hicks continued to violate the gag order but did not offer examples in their filing.
The defense also alleges the DA’s Office under Hicks violated their client’s Sixth Amendment right by receiving jail visitation logs, including his interactions with attorneys, and with psychological experts hired by the defense.
His attorneys argue it violated an order by federal Judge David Guaderrama in 2020 prohibiting jail logs from being shared with law enforcement or federal and state prosecutors.
On Thursday, Hicks said the federal order did not apply to the state's case.
"We are a separate sovereign," Hicks said. "It doesn't apply to us."
Their filing also states the sheriff’s office had shared “all visitation” records on a weekly basis with the DA’s Office after a request in February 2023. Their filing also states the DA’s Office issued a subpoena for records of visits between Crusius and psychological professionals.
During today’s court hearing, Judge Medrano ordered all evidence be preserved and for the DA’s office to turn over any jail logs and recordings between the gunman and his attorneys.
Hicks said four recordings had been turned over and he did not know about the rest of the recordings.
In February, the gunman’s attorneys expressed concern about access to evidence in the case and complained of having to sort through 90,000 duplicate files. The defense team hired Todd Cooper, a digital forensics and electronic discovery consultant from the firm ArcherHall to organize the files.
He testified the team needed about six months to sort through the material.
Prosecutors have argued the gunman’s attorneys have had access to the bulk of evidence in the case for years. Months ago, assistant district attorney Rebecca Tarango said the ballistics reports, medical records and dashcam video from police ere the only new evidence available.
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