BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Federal prosecutors have made the decision to seek the death penalty in a hate crime case against a white supremacist who killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket. Payton Gendron, 20, is serving a life sentence with no chance of parole after pleading guilty to state charges of murder and hate-motivated domestic terrorism in the 2022 attack.
New York does not have capital punishment, but the Justice Department had the option of seeking the death penalty in a separate federal hate crimes case. Gendron had agreed to plead guilty in exchange for the prosecutors not seeking the death penalty.
In a notice announcing the decision to seek the death penalty, Trini Ross, the U.S. attorney for western New York, wrote that Gendron had selected the supermarket “in order to maximize the number of Black victims.” The notice cited a range of factors for the decision, including the substantial planning leading to the shooting and the decision to target at least one vulnerable victim due to old age and infirmity.
Relatives of the victims had expressed mixed views on whether they thought federal prosecutors should pursue the death penalty. One of the relatives, Mark Talley, shared his thoughts after meeting with prosecutors, stating, “I’m not necessarily disappointed in the decision. It would have satisfied me more knowing he would have spent the rest of his life in prison being surrounded by the population of people he tried to kill.”
This decision marks the first time Attorney General Merrick Garland has authorized a new pursuit of the death penalty under the current administration. The Justice Department has taken a sparing approach to seeking the death penalty, with Garland having instituted a moratorium on federal executions in 2021 pending a review of procedures.
On May 14, 2022, Gendron attacked shoppers and workers with a semi-automatic rifle at a supermarket in Buffalo. The victims ranged in age from 32 to 86, and three people were wounded but survived. The rifle Gendron used was marked with racial slurs and phrases, underscoring the racial motivation behind the attack.