(C) El Paso Matters.org
This story was originally published by El Paso Matters.org and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Opinion: Here’s one way President Biden could help El Paso before leaving office [1]

['Robert Moore', 'More Robert Moore', 'El Paso Matters', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Where Img', 'Height Auto Max-Width']

Date: 2024-12-24

Before President Joe Biden leaves office, he should ask his Justice Department to explain its decision not to seek the death penalty in the deadliest hate crime targeting Hispanics in recent U.S. history, the racist mass shooting that left 23 dead and 22 injured at an El Paso Walmart.

Biden’s Justice Department has steadfastly refused to explain that action, citing department policy.

The case for an explanation took on additional urgency Monday, when President Biden commuted the death sentences of 37 of the 40 people awaiting execution in the federal prison system. The three men who were excluded and remain on death row were convicted of mass murder in attacks that terrorized communities, targeted specific groups, or both.

“These commutations are consistent with the moratorium my Administration has imposed on federal executions, in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder,” Biden said in a statement announcing the commutations.

But the Biden administration’s record on racism-inspired mass killings has been inconsistent, with no explanations offered.

It is true that since taking office in 2021, the Biden administration has not carried out any executions of people on federal death row, and has largely not pursued the death penalty in new cases.

But the Biden Justice Department, under the leadership of Attorney General Merrick Garland, did pursue the death penalty in three high-profile cases.

One involved an Uzbek immigrant who killed eight people and wounded dozens of others in a 2017 New York City attack that prosecutors alleged was an effort to “further the ideological goals” of the Islamic state. Another involved a man who killed 11 people in an antisemitic attack at a Pittsburgh synagogue. The third involved a man who killed 10 Black people in a Buffalo grocery store in what prosecutors said was a hate crime committed by a white gunman.

The Pittsburgh attack came just over eight months before a gunman who claimed he was acting to “stop the Hispanic invasion of Texas” murdered 23 people and wounded 22 others in an Aug. 3, 2019, attack at the Cielo Vista Walmart in El Paso. The Buffalo shooting came 2½ years after the El Paso attack.

Jurors gave the New York killer a life sentence and the Pittsburgh gunman a death sentence. The Buffalo case has not yet gone to trial in federal courts.

But an El Paso jury was never asked to decide whether the federal charges merited the death sentence because the Biden administration’s Justice Department decided in January 2023 to not seek the death penalty. The gunman quickly pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 90 consecutive life terms in federal prison, with a recommendation that he live out his life at the nation’s highest security prison in Colorado.

The Biden administration pursued the death penalty in terror attacks and hate crimes where the victims were bicyclists and joggers in New York City, Jewish worshippers in Pittsburgh, and Black shoppers in Buffalo.

But the same administration chose not to seek the death penalty in El Paso, where most of the victims were Mexican and Hispanic shoppers. It’s easy to understand why many think that decision suggests that Hispanic and Mexican lives have less value than other lives.

A man visits the Healing Garden, a memorial at Ascarate Park dedicated to the victims of the Walmart shooting, on Aug. 3, 2024. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Matters)

I repeatedly asked the Justice Department last year to explain its reasoning for the decision not to seek the death penalty in the El Paso attack. Officials repeatedly told me that they couldn’t because their policy is to never publicly discuss such decisions.

A high-ranking Justice Department official suggested that I file a motion seeking to make public information in the court file that had been sealed.

I filed such a motion in November 2023, with assistance from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. More than a year later, U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama has not ruled on the motion, or on a motion from prosecutors to make public the motions they filed under seal. Defense lawyers objected to the two motions, arguing release of the sealed motions could impact their client’s right to a fair trial on state capital murder charges, which could carry the death penalty.

Almost two years after the decision to not seek the death penalty, the Justice Department and Biden administration have largely remained silent on the reasons. The prosecutor who handled the federal case, Ian Hanna of El Paso, hinted during sentencing that the gunman’s mental health history may have played a role.

The federal decision may also ultimately impact the state prosecution of the gunman. Under Texas law, prosecutors must prove to a jury that a defendant facing a potential death penalty presents a future danger to society.

Defense lawyers will argue – with justification – that a man sentenced to spend the rest of his life in the nation’s most secure prison does not represent a future danger. That knowledge could weigh heavily on state prosecutors who have to make a decision on whether to continue to pursue capital punishment.

My point is not to advocate for capital punishment. Our nation is in the midst of another national conversation about when – if ever – a death sentence is a moral and effective penalty. And I am not arguing that the Walmart gunman should die or live. I simply don’t have the facts or the authority to make such a recommendation.

But I do believe that when a presidential administration makes a decision that has a huge impact on the prosecution of El Paso’s most heinous crime, it has a moral obligation to explain its reasons.

As he nears the end of his term, President Biden is weighing decisions on how to use his vast powers of pardon and clemency. From all evidence, Biden is relying on his faith, his values and his sense of right and wrong as he makes those decisions.

As he does so, I hope he applies similar thought to how he might help a community that suffered grievous harm because of who we are. Hundreds of lives were forever altered in a racist attack. In many ways, El Paso itself can never be the same.

Knowing why the Justice Department made the decision not to seek the death penalty is one of many steps needed as El Paso continues to heal. One man, who has shown courage in making difficult or controversial decisions, has the power to help with that one small step.

President Biden, please help El Paso understand why your Justice Department made this momentous decision.

Robert Moore is founder and CEO of El Paso Matters.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://elpasomatters.org/2024/12/24/opinion-president-biden-should-help-el-paso-understand-walmart-mass-shooting-death-penalty-decision/

Published and (C) by El Paso Matters.org
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-ND 4.0 International.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/elpasomatters/

You are viewing proxied material from magical.fish. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.