Jury selection begins in federal death penalty trial of Tops mass shooter

Buffalo, N.Y. (AP/WBEN) - Jury selection began Tuesday in the federal hate crime trial of a man who admitted to killing 10 Black people in a 2022 massacre at Tops on Jefferson Avenue, a case that could lead to a rare death sentence.

Five potential jurors were interviewed during the afternoon session. Three - two men and one woman, all white - were selected for further consideration in November. One potential juror was rejected outright, and debate continued over a fifth.

The fifth potential juror, a public school teacher, said, “I get physically ill thinking about ‘white supremacists'.”

Payton Gendron is already serving life in prison after pleading guilty to state murder charges and tearfully renouncing his white supremacist views. He now faces a federal trial stemming from the same mass shooting. If convicted, the 23-year-old could face the death penalty.

The attack at Tops is believed to be the deadliest hate-motivated shooting targeting Black people in the U.S. by a lone gunman in the past century.

Gendron has pleaded not guilty to dozens of hate crime and gun charges, though his defense lawyers do not dispute his guilt. One of them predicted a conviction while speaking to a prospective juror Tuesday.

If convicted, Gendron’s lawyers will try to persuade jurors to spare him from execution. Life imprisonment is typically the alternative.

“At trial, we will offer mitigating evidence about Payton that the jury needs to consider in making its decision,” his lawyers said in a statement. “Nothing we say or do is intended to be disrespectful or insensitive to the victims, the survivors, or their loved ones.”

Gendron spoke with his defense team and took notes as lawyers and U.S. District Judge Lawrence Vilardo interviewed potential jurors. One woman said she did not want to serve on the jury partly because of the stress of watching a video Gendron livestreamed during the shooting.