Rosales, an El Paso native who graduated from Austin High School and the University of Texas El Paso, will replace Jaime Esparza ā who decided not to seek reelection after nearly three decades in office ā in January to become the county's first female district attorney.
āI really donāt anticipate this case going to the trial [phase] until, I am guessing, between two to three years,ā she said.
After sealing her victory in last month's runoff election, Rosales said letting the U.S. attorneyās office prosecute Crusius first would make financial sense for El Paso.
Robert Dunham, executive director of the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center, a non-profit think tank that analyzes the death penalty, said the case could be over quickly if prosecutors took the death penalty off the table.
The El Paso shooting happened a day after Abbott's campaign sent out a mailer saying Texans would need to take matters into their āown handsā to ādefendā the border.