US Judge Seeks Clarity On Buffalo Shooters Death Penalty Prospects

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A US judge on Thursday asked the Biden administration to decide quickly if it will seek execution for the teenager who shot dead 10 African Americans at a supermarket in May, warning that doing so would cost taxpayers more money.



Earlier this week, authorities announced federal hate crimes against Payton Gendron, 18, saying he was motivated by racist hate when, on May 14, he took a semi-automatic assault weapon to a grocery store in a largely Black neighborhood of Buffalo, New York, and opened fire.



In his first appearance on Thursday in a Buffalo federal court, Gendron said he was unemployed, only had $16 in his bank account and asked for legal assistance.



A federal judge has asked prosecutors to decide quickly if they will seek the death penalty for Buffalo shooter Payton Gendron



Judge Kenneth Schroeder agreed to grant Gendron a public defender, but urged prosecutors to make up their minds quickly about whether to pursue the death penalty for the suspect, saying such proceedings would cost additional taxpayer funds.



'The possibility of a death penalty obviously has a greater burden in the defense of the defendant,' Schroeder said.



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Prosecutors said a decision on the sentence sought for Gendron will be made after a thorough evaluation of the case.



U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland was in Buffalo on Wednesday to visit with families of the victims.



Attorney General Merrick Garland visits the Tops Friendly Market grocery store in Buffalo, N.Y., on Wednesday, June 15, 2022, the site of a May 14 mass shooting



'At the Justice Department we view confronting hate crimes as both our legal and moral obligation.



'The Justice Department was founded more than 150 years ago with the first principal task of protecting back Americans and our democracy from white supremacist's violence. Today, we approach that task with the same degree of urgency as we did than.'



He said in part: 'We will be relentless in our efforts to combat hate crimes to support the communities terrorized by them and to hold accountable those who perpetrate them.



Ten people (pictured) were killed in the shooting at the Buffalo supermarket



The nation's top prosecutor spoke of Gendron's charges and detailed from the affidavit in support of the complaint quotes by the defendant as stating saying the suspect's goal was to 'kill as many blacks as possible.'



Garland alleged that he selected the Tops supermarket because black people shop there.



On Wednesday, federal prosecutors filed 26 counts of hate crimes and firearms charges against Gendron. Left: Gendron is arrested outside the Tops supermarket in Buffalo on May 14. Right: People comfort each other outside the Tops supermarket after the mass shooting



Democratic President Joe Biden ran for office on a promise to work to abolish the federal death penalty, and his top prosecutor issued a moratorium on federal executions pending a review of the process.



Gendron also faces charges of domestic terrorism and ten counts of first degree murder from the state of New York, which abolished capital punishment in 2004.



Gendron also posted an image of the gun he used in the attack.