Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Attorneys for Tops shooter Payton Gendron are asking for a delay in their client's federal death penalty trial because of health concerns involving a key member of the defense team.
"This is not a normal case," former Erie County District Attorney John Flynn told WBEN. "It's probably the biggest case that we've ever had in Western New York, and the circumstances are not normal as a result of what happened to our community."
That said, Flynn is pushing for legal closure of the case, sooner than later.
During a status hearing inside a Federal Courtroom on Wednesday, defense attorneys filed a motion to delay the start of the trial after a key member of the defense team withdrew due to a cancer diagnosis.
"It's tragic that one of the lawyers has cancer, but they have seven lawyers on the defense team. Three are 'learned counsel', meaning they are capable of handling a death penalty case," Flynn noted. "They had four, but now they have three. They can obviously bring someone else on to handle this matter. The trial is not scheduled to start until January of 2026."
Flynn, now with Lippes Mathias LLP, says it's reasonable to expect motions in the case will be delayed, but he would be hard pressed to advocate for a delay in the trial.
"You have 10 families that lost loved ones [in the mass shooting at Tops Market on Jefferson Avenue, May 14, 2022]. Three families had loved ones shot and injured. The reality is that the case is going to drag on even after the verdict. If the death penalty is awarded here, the appeals are going to go on for years and years. These poor families are going to have this dragged out
forever. That's unfortunate," he added.
Judge Lawrence Vilardo is expected to set a trial date at the next status hearing on June 17.