After four prosecutors and nearly six years, El Paso DA decides it’s time to stop pursuing the death penalty for mass shooter

El Paso District Attorney James Montoya campaigned for the job saying he would pursue the death penalty against the 26-year-old gunman who killed 23 people in a local Walmart in 2019 and said he wanted “to shoot as many Mexicans as possible.”

But after the case had passed through the hands of four different prosecutors and dragged out nearly six years, on Tuesday Montoya said his office had consulted with victims’ families as well as surviving victims and decided to offer Patrick Crusius a plea bargain that didn’t include the death penalty.

“This was not a decision that was reached lightly or hastily,” Montoya said at a news conference. He explained that pursuing the death penalty would prolong the case for several more years.