Federal prosecutors will seek the death penalty for the white supremacist who killed 10 black people at a Buffalo supermarket, they said in a court filing Friday.
Payton Gendron, 20, is already serving life in prison without the possibility of parole after he pleaded guilty to state charges of manslaughter and hate-motivated domestic violence in the 2022 attack.
New York does not have the death penalty, but the Justice Department has the option of seeking the death penalty in separate federal hate crime cases.
Gendron has promised to plead guilty in the case if prosecutors agree not to seek the death penalty.
There was no immediate comment from the victim’s family or prosecutors.
The Justice Department has made federal death penalty cases a rarity since the election of President Joe Biden, a Democrat who opposes the death penalty.
Payton Gendron will face the death penalty in his federal hate crime suit. AP
Attorney General Merrick Garland initiated a moratorium on the federal death penalty in 2021 pending a procedural review.
Although the moratorium does not prevent prosecutors from seeking the death penalty, the Justice Department has done so cautiously.
It successfully sought the death penalty for an antisemitic gunman who killed 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue.
It also continued last year with efforts to seek the death penalty against Islamic extremists who killed eight people on a New York City bike path, although the lack of a unanimous jury meant that prosecutions resulted in life sentences.
Gendron attacked shoppers and employees with a semi-automatic rifle at Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo. AP
The Justice Department has declined to pursue capital punishment in other mass murders. It continues efforts to kill a gunman who killed 23 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas.
Relatives of the victims in Buffalo have expressed mixed views on whether they think federal prosecutors should pursue the death penalty in the case.
On May 14, 2022, Gendron attacked shoppers and employees with a semi-automatic rifle at Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo after driving more than 200 miles (320 kilometers) from his home in rural Conklin, New York.
He chose the business for its location in a predominantly black neighborhood and live-streamed the carnage from a camera mounted on his tactical helmet.
The dead, who ranged in age from 32 to 86, included eight customers, a store security guard and a church deacon who drove shoppers to and from the store with their groceries. Three people were injured but survived.
Gendron has promised to plead guilty in the case if prosecutors agree not to seek the death penalty. AP
The gun Gendron fired was marked with racial slurs and phrases including “Great Replacement,” referring to conspiracy theories that there was a plan to reduce white influence.
Mark Talley, whose 63-year-old mother, Geraldine Talley, was killed, said he would rather Gendron serve life in the community he attacked than be executed.
“I want that pain to consume him every second of every day for the rest of his life,” he said after Gendron’s guilty plea in state court.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
