The Justice Department on Friday said in court papers that it would seek to execute the gunman who killed 10 Black people in a racist massacre at a Buffalo supermarket in May 2022. It is the first time that President Biden’s administration has sought the death penalty in a new case (article available here).
Payton Gendron, the 20-year-old who committed the attack after posting a hate-filled white supremacist manifesto online, had already been sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole on state charges last year. He had pleaded guilty to 10 counts of first-degree murder and a single count of domestic terrorism motivated by hate.
Gendron apologized to victims’ families at an emotional state court sentencing hearing in February, during which one man lunged at him in anger.
Families have been split over the question of capital punishment. Some have said they support a death penalty case, while others have said they would prefer life in prison as a way to move past the ordeal and not relive the attack during an extended trial.
The federal government has charged Mr. Gendron with hate crimes and gun charges that could bring the death penalty.
The decision marks the first time that Attorney General Merrick B. Garland has personally authorized capital punishment in a new case since he assumed office in March 2021.
In August, the Justice Department obtained a death sentence against Robert Bowers, 50, a White man who fatally shot 11 Jewish people at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018. That case began during the Trump administration.
Biden is the first president to openly oppose the death penalty.