Judge Absolutely ROASTS D.A. Rosales Over Wal-Mart Shooting Trial

The judge handling the case of the Walmart Shooter absolutely tore into the District Attorney.

In a hearing on July 1, Judge Sam Medrano made very clear that his comments and criticisms were definitely directed to Yvonne Rosales who has been the D.A. since January 2021.

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According to El Paso Matters Judge Medrano blasted Rosales for 1.) making public comments about the case and, 2.) not making a single court filing pertaining to the case.

  “The grandstanding ends today”,

Medrano said as he issued a gag order preventing attorneys on both sides, law enforcement, AND witnesses from discussing the case publicly. The gag order was in response to a press release from the DA’s office earlier in the week that announced Rosales’ intention to have the case tried sometime next summer.

The El Paso Matters Report takes great pains to paint this as a severe dressing down “in front of reporters, attorneys and victims’ families” who were present in court.

“Not one pleading, not one motion, not one request, not one business record, not one proposed jury questionnaire, not one subpoena, not one witness list, not one expert witness list, has been filed by your office,” Medrano said in his fiery comments to D.A. Rosales.

Medrano is the latest El Paso judge to have harsh words for El Paso’s relatively new D.A. (her predecessor, Jaime Esparza, had held office for three decades).

In December of 2021, Judge Alyssa Perez dismissed a capital murder charge after finding the DA’s office had mishandled the case.

This year, the jail magistrate sent an email to Rosales criticizing her for repeated instances where suspects had to be released because her office took too long to decide whether to seek an indictment.

Look, the 2019 Wal-Mart case IS one of the highest profile cases. It’s hard to imagine a scenario where the accused might be released because of bungling in the DA’s office. But it would behoove us all if the new District Attorney could either get her act together or, failing that, admit that she’s in over her head and let someone else take over.