As victims of the white supremacist shooting that claimed the lives of 10 Black Americans in Buffalo learned Friday that the Biden administration would seek the death penalty for the 2022 massacre, victims of a new hate crime are wondering why that racist killer was spared.
Federal prosecutors under the Biden administration also sought the death penalty for the gunman in the 2018 Tree of Life Synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh — finding that the victims were targeted because of their faith.
However, Biden’s Justice Department did not seek the death penalty in the 2019 Walmart mass shooting, in which the confessed killer went hunting for Hispanics — he drove 10 hours to El Paso, Texas, where he killed 23 people.
“It’s racist,” former El Paso Mayor Dee Margo told DailyMail.com on Friday about the DOJ’s decisions.
‘I can’t reconcile it. It’s wrong. It’s wrong. It could be construed as racist.”
In February 2023, Patrick Crusius pleaded guilty to 90 federal hate crimes, admitting that he drove 10 hours from the Dallas area to El Paso, Texas to find Hispanics and kill them. Footage from the surveillance video, pictured above, shows Crusius walking into an El Paso Walmart store armed and ready to kill in 2019
Although Patrick Crusius pleaded guilty in 2023, the Biden administration’s federal prosecutors announced they would not seek the death penalty until they reached a plea deal with the killer.
Republican Dee Margo (photo on stage) was mayor of El Paso, Texas during the Walmart massacre in August 2019
Patrick Crusius, born self-proclaimed white nationalistpleaded guilty to 90 federal hate crimes related to the 2023 Walmart shooting, admitting that he tried to kill as many Latin American immigrants as possible, and believed they were invading the US.
Even before Crusius’ guilty plea, prosecutors within Biden’s DOJ had already made the decision not to pursue the death penalty for Crusius.
At the time, federal prosecutors did not explain how they reached their decision, but instead filed a one-sentence motion declaring the death penalty was off the table.
All three cases were prosecuted as federal hate crimes, making the shooters eligible for a death sentence, as Pittsburgh shooter Robert Bowers, 50, did. according to the DOJ.
“I feel like we’re being treated differently than Pittsburgh or Buffalo, and that’s wrong,” Margo added. ‘There must be consistency in the application of the law.’
Paul Jamrowski, father of Jordan Anchondo and father-in-law of Andre Anchondo, both of whom were killed in the El Paso Walmart mass shooting, breaks down in tears while speaking to the media outside federal court in El Paso, Texas, Wednesday, July 5. Patrick Crusius will receiving multiple life sentences after pleading guilty to federal hate crimes in one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history
Margo says federal prosecutors under the Trump administration have expressed their intention to seek the death penalty for El Paso shooter
Hilda Reckard, daughter-in-law of El Paso Walmart shooting victim Margie Reckard, holds a photo of her relative outside federal court in El Paso, Texas, on July 7.
The Texas Republican, who was mayor on August 3, 2019 – the bloodiest day in El Paso history – attended the funerals of all 23 people who died and met many survivors who were maimed and had their lives changed forever.
Margo has also attended all the court hearings related to the mass shooting.
When Crusius pleaded guilty, Margo said he spoke to federal prosecutors in El Paso and asked why they weren’t seeking the federal death penalty.
‘I said, ‘Why did you demand the death penalty? Why couldn’t you do that.’ He said it was Biden AG’s decision,” Margo claimed.
Margo said federal prosecutors in El Paso indicated they were also disappointed by the decision made by senior executives in the department.
Former President Donald Trump visited El Paso after the 2019 massacre and was greeted by then-Mayor Dee Margo and U.S. Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn
Walmart employees pay their respects at a makeshift memorial for the shooting victims, at the Cielo Vista Mall Walmart in August 2019
The attack on the El Paso Walmart left residents of the border city feeling vulnerable, as the killer’s sole purpose was to kill Hispanics. El Paso’s population is overwhelmingly of Mexican descent
Former President Donald Trump was in office at the time of the shooting.
At the time, Margo said he had been promised by DOJ officials that he intended to seek the death penalty.
President Joe Biden is the first president to openly oppose the death penalty and campaign for its abolition, but in both the Pittsburg and Buffalo shootings, his officials have said the death penalty is critical to ensuring justice for victims to achieve.
“We hope that this civil rights prosecution will provide some closure and highlight the Justice Department’s resolve to protect people from anti-Semitic violence and other hate crimes in our country,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke from the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice afterwards. the condemnation of the synagogue.
In Texas, Crusius still faces the death penalty at the state level.
The local prosecutor has stated that convicting and obtaining the death penalty for Crusius is his top priority.
The state case still has no trial date, however, as the local district attorney’s office is plagued by a series of prosecutors working to end the Walmart case and other delays.
Bill Hicks, the district attorney for West Texas, was appointed to the position by Gov. Greg Abbott last month.
Former District Attorney Yvonne Rosales had previously handled the case, but was forced out of office amid allegations of incompetence and mishandling of multiple cases, including the Walmart shooting.
“This is by far the case that affects the most people in the city. There has never been a bigger case,” Margo explained. “There is disappointment, and that is why there should be a death penalty at the state level.”