Texas Walmart shooter Patrick Crusius has agreed to pay over $5 million in restitution to his victims’ families.
The figure of $5,557,005.55 was first agreed to by the Justice Department and Crusius’ attorneys, then approved by U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama on Monday.
As covered in The Dallas Express, the now-25-year-old Allen native was sentenced to 90 consecutive life sentences this July for massacring 23 people and injuring 22 others in an El Paso Walmart in 2019.
Crusius had been charged with multiple counts of committing hate crimes involving an attempt to kill, hate crimes resulting in death, use of a firearm during and in relation to crimes of violence, and use of a firearm to commit murder during and in relation to crimes of violence, as previously covered in The Dallas Express.
He has yet to be tried on the state level on charges related to the same shooting incident, including capital murder charges that may see him facing the death penalty.
When Crusius was handed over to the Texas authorities after his federal trial, El Paso District Attorney Bill Hicks said state prosecutors would seek the death penalty, as previously reported in The Dallas Express.
An El Paso jury will decide whether the death penalty is warranted. Crusius’ defense attorneys are likely to continue arguing against capital punishment due to his alleged neurological and mental disabilities.
The state trial hasn’t been scheduled yet. Crusius’ legal team said on Monday it could take two years to prepare the discovery process due to allegedly corrupt files given to them by the prosecution, according to KFOX 14.
Meanwhile, Hicks predicted that state prosecutors would be ready by the end of this year at the latest.
It is also unknown how soon the families of Crusius’ victims might expect restitution payments.
Speaking to AP News, Dean Reckard, son of murder victim Margie Reckard, 63, expressed skepticism that Crusius would even be able to pay restitution but opted out of receiving any of it anyway.
“Nobody can ever bring back the people who were lost, including my mother,” Reckard said.
“You can’t put a price on somebody’s life,” he added. “We’re going to be without the people in our lives forever and he is just sitting behind bars right now, and he still gets to live so there is no winning anything here.”
In Dallas, homicide offenses continue to climb, rivaling those logged last year. As of September 26, 186 murders have been logged by the City, representing a 6.3% year-over-year increase.
Despite a previous City report recommending a police force of around 4,000 officers is necessary to adequately patrol Dallas, fewer than 3,200 sworn officers currently hold positions within the Dallas Police Department.
