EL PASO — Mark and Mike Sheppard of Sierra Blanca were arrested on September 29, 2022, in connection with a shooting, in which one migrant from Mexico was killed and another seriously wounded at a stock tank west of Sierra Blanca, but the case has not moved into the courts after two years and almost three months, according to an attorney for one of the men.
Jesus Sepúlveda died from a gunshot wound to the head, and Brenda Berenice Casias Carrillo was shot in the stomach but survived. The Sheppards later told a Texas Ranger they thought they were shooting at javelina. The incident sparked an uproar from migrant activists who said the shooting — just at sundown — was intentional. Mike was the warden at the West Texas Detention Center in Sierra Blanca, and Mark worked as a jailer for Hudspeth County. Both men were eventually released on bond and have been living in Florida. Mark’s attorney, Richard Esper, said in January that Mark had two strokes since the incident and is in bad health.
Brent Mayr, counsel for Mike, said Friday he has heard no word of an indictment in the case, the next logical step for the men charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and manslaughter, both felonies. Esper did not respond to a request for comment.
“It does not give us much comfort to know that it has already been over two years since the incident and, not only do we not have any of the evidence or witness statements obtained by law enforcement, we do not know for certain what action has been taken (or not be taken) by a grand jury in this case,” Mayr said in an email to The Big Bend Sentinel.
Several media outlets — including El Paso Matters — published an update of no movement for the case in September. At the time El Paso District Attorney Bill Hicks commented that there was a “tug of war” between his office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office on who would prosecute the case and that he was “very dissatisfied with the progress” on the federal side.
Mayr maintains the shooting was an accident. But the initial prosecutor for the district attorney, Kevin Marcantel, told the judge at a bond hearing in October 2022, “I’m not buying this whole mistake thing,” he said, as reported by Marfa Public Radio. “They both knew those were human beings, they thought that was sport, I guess.”
Marcantel was recently transferred from working with Hudspeth and Culberson counties in a reorganization by DA Hicks, and he is the subject of a recent court ruling from District Judge Roy Ferguson affirming allegations from local public defenders that he did not disclose evidence to the defense in several criminal cases. (See story on page 1.)
Mayr said he was aware of the issue with Marcantel and the evidence ruling. “It also concerns us that, if they actually seek an indictment in this case, the grand jury may not be presented with all the available evidence, just as this court has found that the prosecutor failed to turn over available evidence to defendants and their attorneys.”
The families of Casias Carrillo and Sepúlveda have also filed a civil lawsuit against LaSalle Corrections, the company that runs the detention center where Mike worked. (He was let go from his position at the time of the shooting.) Since Mike went to a local water board meeting after the shooting, the plaintiffs contend he was working that night.
Hicks lost his November re-election bid to Jame Montoya, who will take office in January. Hicks and Montoya did not reply to requests for comment on this story.