Transcripción del vídeo
thanks for being with us here on live
now from Fox I'm your host Christina
Evans again as we promised before that
two-minute break that we took we're
going to be keeping it there in Texas
talking about another major headline you
might remember this story it happened
back in 2019 devastating when the gunman
he killed 23 people in a racist attack
at a Texas Walmart we do know that
according to the Associated Press he
attacked Hispanic Shoppers there at a
Walmart near the US Mex meico border
back in 2019 and new information is
coming out about his case it has now
been put on the table a ple deal
underneath this offer that was announced
today it would he would avoid the death
penalty under the law this is abruptly
ending years of efforts by prosecutors
to see that he face execution by lethal
injection El Paso County District
Attorney James Montoya said during a
news conference that this decision there
in the prosecution
of this gunman who drove across the
state for one of the deadliest mass
shootings in US history and posted
racist messages before opening fire was
driven by a majority of victims
relatives who wanted to see this case go
behind him to talk more about this
update and where the case is now heading
I want to bring into the conversation
Texas based attorney Trey Gober Trey
thanks so much for being with us here on
live now from Fox again this is a story
that rocked so many people's world when
it happened back in 2019 and we've been
continuing to follow it as we're getting
these updates what were first your
thoughts on that plea deal being put on
the table is this customary in a case
that involves the murder and a mass
shooting of so many people again also
leaving 22 others injured as
well well I think my thoughts are the
same as the thoughts of of many of us uh
disappointment uh a lot of us wanted to
see the ultimate penalty for the
ultimate crime uh can't think of many
crimes much worse than this and
certainly if the death penalties ever
appropriate it should be inappropriate
in a case like this that's certainly the
thoughts that that first hit me but at
the same time when you look at this
District Attorney's reasoning behind it
and the fact that the district attorney
is taking into consideration the wishes
of the families to get this put behind
them so that they can have closure
absolutely something we can support uh
at the end of the day the law requires
and allows for prosecutorial discretion
to take into account a variety of
considerations uh and certainly
consideration and deference to the
wishes of the majority of the victim's
families uh should be considered and I'm
glad you mentioned that I want to read
out just a little bit more about what
the plea deal that is currently on the
table we know that a hearing is set for
April 21st but they're now saying that
this gunman he would plead guilty to
capital murder and receive life in
prison with no possibility of parole so
when you're talking about some of the
things that happen in a case like this
again with a plea deal now being
presented put out on the
table it's not the death penalty but it
is life without the possibility of
parole he's already been convicted in
other charges as well do you feel like
this is what the family wants ultimately
to put this case behind them find peace
and it's just interesting that this is a
mass shooting case we typically do see
the death penalty pursued in these
types absolutely and so I I think it's
important to note that the victim's
families are not a monolith certainly
for every victim there's a number of
family members and there's going to be a
difference of opinion among those family
members my understanding from reporting
from the district attorney is that the
gross majority of support of the victim
families uh support having closure and
resolution with this plea deal I can't
think of a punishment worse for this
individual for than any for any
individual than to know that every
morning for the rest of their life
they're going to lock up incarcerated
and have no opportunity for release uh
this this person already has I believe
90 consecutive life sentences and so
it certainly will be a punishment for
this individual to not have the freedom
of death to escape waking up in prison
every single day I'm Trey I'm glad you
brought that up he yes he has been coni
he's already been convicted and pleaded
guilty to 90 consecutive life sentences
how will this next convention if if this
is what is presented this plea deal he
accepted how will that affect his time
in prison will it affect it at all being
that he's already has all this other
time that's on the table
uh no it it shouldn't have much of an
effect in terms of certainly it won't
have an effect on the length of of his
imprisonment uh it'll be an additional
set of convictions from a state level
versus just a federal level uh so
there's further insulation you have
convictions from Dual sovereigns uh and
it it gives closure to these families uh
you know certainly the families have
waited long enough since 2019 reporting
is that with delays that we have in our
our court systems here in Texas in large
part caused by covid that this
individual wasn't going to see trial in
in Texas until 2028 which is remarkably
long the reality is we have limited
resources limited resources for Judicial
Court time for trials limited resources
for prosecutors limited resources for
investigators and so while this
individual will ultimately receive the
punishment that the families wish for uh
that means that these government
entities the courts the prosecutors the
investigators can also now focus on
other crimes and help bring resolution
to other victims let's talk about
politics because is with everything it
does play a slight role and this is
interesting because even when we're
covering other cases like in California
the Mendez brothers that's been a very
hotand button issue and certain things
in politics does get brought into it as
well do you think that that impacted
this decision in any way for this plea
deal to be brought for the death penalty
to not be
pursu I I don't think so and in fact the
prede the the current prosecutor the
current district attorney who has made
the decision after Consulting with
families to make this plea offer uh is
is a Democrat uh elected and brought
into office in January uh his
predecessor was a Republican and that
predecessor the Republican predecessor
came out in support of the the decision
acknowledg this is a very tough decision
uh there's not a decision that's going
to make everybody happy uh but it is a
decision that has to be made we have to
give difference we have prosecutorial
discretion and certainly we could always
criticize the decision to go forward
with the death penalty or to offer the
pedial uh but at the end of the day I I
don't think that there was a lot of Pol
politics in play here I think this was a
decision by the prosecutor to do right
by those victims most directly affected
the families of the people who died and
Trey of course we know 23 victims 22
others injured let's talk about civil
cases are there any on the table that
they can now pursue as well as they're
putting the criminal portion of this
case behind I mean this happened at a
Walmart is Walmart even in the
conversation to be sued is is that even
possibility for families to get some
sort of financial compensation from them
or is it just them going after again
this now gunman who's been
convicted this decision by prosecutors
to offer life sentence instead of the
death penalty will have no effect on any
uh civil claims in Texas we have a
two-year statute of limitations to bring
these claims uh by the surviving victims
and by the the families of the the
victims who were
those lawsuits are are long underway or
resolved at this point uh as far as
claims against Walmart or any premise
owner uh there's a possibility of a
claim for inadequate security if the
premise owner was aware of a prior
threat to people on the property to
their customers for example uh that
might be difficult in this case since
the gunman drove I believe it was 700
miles uh to get to this particular area
uh there's also questions of who
motivated this individual uh were there
people or talking pundants uh that that
motivated these racist ideologies within
this individual and could those people
be held accountable uh certainly we give
a lot of difference to First Amendment
free speech and so there's probably a
lot of protection there I'm not aware of
any pending civil litigation and
certainly there should not be any uh
effect with this offer on any uh
potential or pending civil cases
certainly makes sense and we again know
that this plea hearing and sentencing is
set for April 21st the families are
going to be able to give Victim Impact
statements during that portion as well
what else do you expect to come out of
that hearing as a whole what should we
be looking for in the next
month uh resolution frankly I I think
that everybody has a date to look
forward to uh in in prepar for coming on
here tonight I I reached out and heard
from a friend with lots of family and
Connections in El Paso and and I think
he said it best they can't wait for this
person whose name I'm intentionally not
saying uh the the killer to become
irrelevant uh so we don't have to think
and deal with him anymore uh and so I
think that having this date set off
about a month from now gives families
and victims surviving victims time to
prepare uh for closure and we can put
this behind us and move forward all
right again attorney Tre over there
Texas base attorney here to help us
break down the very latest as it
pertains to this El Paso mass shooting
again that plea deal being put on the
table we'll continue to wait and look
for that number that date April 21st is
when we'll be able to put this behind us
we appreciate you for joining us here on
live now thank you