El Paso Gunman Is Confronted by Victims’ Families at Sentencing
Emotional testimony from survivors and victims’ families began on Wednesday in the federal sentencing hearing for the gunman who killed 23 people and injured dozens more at a Walmart store in El Paso, one of the deadliest attacks targeting Latinos in modern U.S. history.
The gunman, Patrick Crusius, pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes in February after federal prosecutors notified the court that they would not be seeking the death penalty. State authorities have made it clear that they could pursue it in a separate capital murder case that is still pending.
In the federal case, where testimony on a possible sentence was expected to last at least two days, prosecutors agreed with the defense on a proposed sentence of 90 consecutive life terms to reflect the 90 charges, including 45 hate crimes.
Emotions have remained raw in the four years since Mr. Crusius stormed a Walmart in the predominately Latino border city, unleashing a fury of firepower just minutes after publishing a hate-filled manifesto online that deplored the “Hispanic invasion of Texas.”
Source: The New York Times
