EL PASO, Texas (KTEP) - District Attorney James Montoya said the gunman who killed 23 people and injured dozens in the mass shooting at a Walmart nearly six years ago deserves to die.
“I understand that this community feels strongly and we wanted the death penalty against him. And, I told people that we would continue to seek it,” Montoya said. “Once I met with victims’ families, that’s what changed.”
Montoya said the vast majority of victims’ relatives wanted the case to end even if it meant removing the death penalty.
“The gratitude that was expressed by multiple families, only confirmed to me that this is the right decision, the correct decision,” he said. “Speaking to them, I will tell you, gave me even more confidence this was the right decision. No regrets at all.”
“I supported it,” William Englisbee. His 86-year old mother Angelina Englisbee was among those killed. Englisbee said he made an appointment to see the new DA when Montoya took office in January to talk about the case.
“I felt as though it had already been too long. He can’t get out of prison,” he said, referring to the gunman. “I do hope the bureau of prisons does their part and sends him to a state prison, not federal.
Under the plea agreement, the gunman will give up any attempt to appeal or seek parole by pleading guilty to capital murder and at least a dozen charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Luis Calvillo supports the plea deal. He survived five gunshot wounds suffered during the mass shooting. His dad, Jorge Calvillo Garcia, was killed in the attack.
On Facebook he wrote, “This was a decision that was spoken with all the families of those affected,” he wrote. “We know the right reasons why this decision was made and no one else needs to know!” He responded to an online backlash directed at the district attorney.
Some victims are not in favor of the DA’s decision to remove the death penalty to reach a plea deal. Jessica Garcia calls it a “slap in the face.”
She and her husband, beloved soccer coach Guillermo “Memo” Garcia, were both shot by the self-described white nationalist. Nine months later, Garcia died at a hospital from his injuries including multiple bullet wounds in his back.
“This is not justice for Memo and the other 22 victims, not even close,” Garcia said.
“This tells me that in the eyes of the justice system they do not matter. We do not matter and that hurts even more than how long this case would have taken.”
She said seeking the death penalty “regardless of the outcome would have felt more like justice and would have given me some comfort.”
As it is, the case has been stalled for years, most recently, by allegations of “prosecutorial misconduct” involving the three previous district attorneys. Montoya was elected in November and is the fourth DA to oversee the case.
He said he’s confident his office could have secured a guilty verdict and convinced a jury to sentence the gunman to death. He said selecting an impartial jury in El Paso would have been difficult and likely would have led to a change in venue and further delays. And Montoya said a majority of families who lost loved ones in the shooting told him they want an end to the case.
But he acknowledged some were opposed. Adria Gonzalez said the DA did not reach out to her. She and her mother were shopping at the Walmart and survived the attack. “My mother and I wanted the death penalty. And we did not get it,” Gonzalez said.
She said she’ll never forget the killer in the store as he systematically gunned down 23 people. “You could see in his face, he had anger, hate, that's the word, to our people,” Gonzalez said.
Patrick Crusius, posted a white supremacist rant online before the shooting and after his arrest told police he wanted to “kill Mexicans.” He pleaded guilty to hate crimes in federal court in 2023. A federal judge sentenced him to 90 consecutive life sentences for murder and hate crimes.
Survivors and victims’ families addressed the gunman in court during their impact statements. One called him an “evil parasite.” Federal prosecutors in a plea deal with the gunman required him to plead guilty in exchange for the removal of the threat of capital punishment.
While some victims' relatives say the state of Texas’ plea deal helps bring an end to the painful case that has dragged on for years, Gonzalez said it's not over for her. She worries about future racially-motivated attacks.
“It’s never going to end. I’m never going to forget what happened that day. The hate is going to continue,” she said.
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