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BUFFALO, N.Y. — The jury selection process has officially begun in the federal death penalty trial for Buffalo mass shooter Payton Gendron.
It was also the first time in months that Gendron has appeared in-person for a court proceeding.
Sixty-five jurors were called in to complete an approximately two-hour-long questionnaire. It was one of two groups per day, until all of about the 1,200 potential jurors are done. It should take two weeks.
On May 14, 2022, Gendron killed 10 Black people and injured three others at a Tops supermarket. He is facing federal hate crime charges. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.
In court, the potential jurors were instructed on the charges and timeline of the case. It could run from October 2025 to January 2027, with both a guilt and a penalty phase.
While they sat silently, some looked over to Gendron or had some reaction as the allegations in the case were laid out.
Once the questionnaire part is done, individual in-person jury selection will begin until a panel of 12 jurors plus alternates is selected.
The trial itself isn’t set to begin until at least Oct. 13.
As the trial gets closer, interest in the case is also picking up.
In Niagara Square, just outside the federal courthouse, a handful of people against the death penalty gathered.
They rang a bell, saying it’s a wake-up call to stop spending money on death penalty trials, especially if a defendant has already been sentenced to life in prison. That’s what Gendron received after pleading guilty in 2023 to state charges in this case that included murder and domestic terrorism motivated by hate.
New York does not have the death penalty.
“The fact is that we don’t know the composition of the jury at this point,” said Paul McQuillen, chairman of the WNY Coalition Against the Death Penalty. “The information is in education. It’s important in this world to let people know that there are alternatives, that they can’t do this all in secrecy, that we’re out here. We know what’s going on. We’re paying attention. And we’re educating people that the death penalty is not necessary in this case and that we oppose it under all circumstances, not just here in Buffalo, but everywhere.”
“We remember the victims, but not with more killing," said Abraham Bonowitz, the executive director of Death Penalty Action. "We are here to say that we can do better for all victims’ families without this waste of taxpayer dollars of a whole ‘nother trial and months or years of process, to try to maybe get a death sentence and maybe, eventually, in decades, get an execution for a man that’s already got a sentence of death by incarceration.”
Those outside also said a trial could be painful for those who experienced the shooting or were impacted by it, though they respect the families’ choices.
Some family members of victims have previously said they want this trial so that the world can hear what happened on 5/14.
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