BUFFALO, N.Y. — The racist mass shooter who traveled over 200 miles with the sole purpose of killing Black people at Tops on Jefferson Ave. is now arguing the maximum punishment set for him is too extreme.
The attorneys of Payton Gendron, the man responsible for killing 10 Black people in the racially motivated shooting in Buffalo in 2022, filed four motions in Federal Court Monday in an attempt to exempt the now 20-year-old from the death penalty and dismiss the federal indictment as a whole.
In the filings, the attorneys called the federal case “cruel and unusual” given that the shooter has already been sentenced to the maximum penalty at the state level of life in prison without parole.
They also argue that Gendron “should be treated differently than fully developed adults” when it comes to the death penalty because at the time of the shooting, he was just 18 years old and his brain was not yet fully developed.
“I'm not surprised at all by the fact that motions are made on a pre-trial basis, but I'm a little bit surprised about some of the issues that were raised because, in my judgment, they've been definitively decided by other courts,” said Terry Connors, an attorney who represents the victims’ families.
Connors tells 2 On Your Side both arguments made by the shooter’s attorneys have already been struck down in other federal circuits, just not in New York, and therefore there is precedent for the judge to follow suit.
“Out west in California, they've been decided already. In the Midwest, they've been decided,” he said. “They're adopting a minority view, hoping — and they say in some of their papers — that the minority view will be adopted by our circuit.”
The Department of Justice filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty back in January against Gendron.
Feelings were mixed about the decision, much like the opinions among family members were before the announcement.
"I think no reason needs to be given. You know, he committed a domestic terrorist attack killing 10 unarmed African Americans while also affecting the lives of three more," said Mark Talley outside the federal U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York when the filing to seek the penalty was announced.
Talley lost his mother Geraldine in the racist attack and added that he felt the gunman should be left to contemplate his actions for the rest of his life, rather than be executed.
"I have no problem with them doing it, like I said I'm a more darker person, I would have preferred he stays locked up right here in jail for the rest of his life surrounded by people who want to kill him every day," Talley said.
While other family members are in favor of the death penalty, Connors said they all want closure.
“They want to move on with their lives,” he said. “They want to put this horrific event behind them. And they want to bring something positive out of it.”
The decision to seek the death penalty had been many months in the making, after several postponements it was unclear how the Biden administration and the Office of the U.S. Attorney General under Merrick Garland would act.
This is the first time Garland has authorized a new case involving the death penalty.
New York does not have capital punishment and the gunman had already pleaded guilty to murder charges back in November of 2022 and is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Gendron's lawyers had previously told prosecutors he would plead guilty if they agreed not to seek the death penalty. He will now be tried in a separate federal hate crimes case.
Gendron pleaded guilty last year to state charges in November 2022. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole in February 2023 for the domestic terrorism charge and all 10 first-degree murder charges.
The judge has set a federal trial date for the shooter on September 8, 2025.
To read more on the filing and our coverage click here.
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