Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The man behind the racially motivated mass shooting in Buffalo was in federal court on Thursday for a status conference — his first appearance in nearly two years.
John Elmore, an attorney representing the victims' families, says showing up was not an option for Payton Gendron.
"The defense has been waving to his right to appear in the past. He had to appear today. The Sixth Amendment says that a defendant must be in court during the critical stages of any court proceedings," stated Elmore in an interview with WBEN. "I would anticipate that Gendron is going to make every court appearance, with the possible exception if there's only an appearance concerning a small adjustment to the scheduling order."
During the status conference, U.S. District Judge Lawrence Vilardo denied the defense team's request to postpone the trial by a full year. He explained that he wants jury selection to begin in October—one month later than originally planned—with in-person jury interviews starting on January 5.
"Those specific jurors on January 5 that have made it through the jury questionnaire process and haven't been screened out at that point, will be in court for individual voir dire, where the judge and both lawyers will individually question them, not as a panel, but bring one person in at a time and question them at length about their views on the death penalty about the amount of publicity that they've had and try to make a determination of whether or not they could be be fair and partial. That process could take two months just to select a jury," stated Elmore.
Judge Vilardo also approved plans for a Roper hearing to be held in May to determine whether Gendron is eligible for the death penalty.
"There's no indication that they're raising the insanity defense, but what they are raising, at least what's obvious now, is there is going to be scientific testimony at the Roper hearing concerning the development of the adolescent Brain and whether or not an 18 year old should be whether or not that 18 year old's brain is developed so that they should be able to accept full responsibility and they're fully culpable for a capital crime the way somebody is when they're 25," explained Elmore.
Gendron is currently facing 10 counts of hate crimes resulting in death, three counts of hate crimes involving an attempt to kill, and one hate crime alleging Gendron attempted to kill additional Black people in and around Tops. Gendron also face 13 counts of using, carrying or discharging a firearm in relation to the hate crimes.