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.
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.
The federal government has charged Mr. Gendron with hate crimes and gun charges that could bring the death penalty.
Prosecutors said in the Friday filing that the circumstances of the charges were “such that, in the event of a conviction, a sentence of death is justified.”
We are having trouble retrieving the article content.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
