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payton gendron
'State-Sanctioned Murder Is Not Justice': Biden DOJ Seeks Death Penalty for Buffalo Shooter
"The government's decision to pursue a death sentence will do nothing to address the racism and hatred that fueled the mass murder," said the head of Equal Justice USA.
Jan 12, 2024
Opponents of capital punishment blasted the Biden administration on Friday after the U.S. Department of Justice revealed it will seek the death penalty for Payton Gendron, a 20-year-old mass shooter already serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for New York state charges.
Motivated by white supremacist ideology, Gendron killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo grocery store in May 2022. Last February, he was sentenced in New York, where capital punishment has been banned for two decades. In June, he was charged with federal hate crimes and weapons violations. Prosecutors for that case argued in a Friday filing to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York that "in the event of a conviction, a sentence of death is justified" under federal law.
"This will not bring back the precious lives stolen, nor will it provide healing for the community."
"The government's decision to pursue a death sentence will do nothing to address the racism and hatred that fueled the mass murder," Equal Justice USA's Jamila Hodge said in response to the filing. "Ultimately, this pursuit will inflict more pain and renewed trauma on the victims' families and the larger Black community already shattered by loss and desperately in need of healing and solutions that truly build community safety. Imagine if we invested in that instead of more state violence."
U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) highlighted on social media Friday that President Joe Biden, a Democrat seeking reelection this year, campaigned on eliminating the death penalty in the 2020 cycle.
"The death penalty is an immoral, racist, inhumane form of punishment that has no place in any society," said Pressley, a congressional leader in the fight to outlaw capital punishment. "And given that [Biden] ran on a promise to end the death penalty, this is a step in the wrong direction."
"State-sanctioned murder is not justice, no matter how heinous the crime," said Pressley. "Congress must pass our Federal Death Penalty Prohibition Act, H.R. 4633." And in the meantime, DOJ should change course and [Biden] must keep his promise to end this barbaric, deeply flawed practice."
"I pray for the loved ones and community of those who were viciously stolen from us in that brutal, racist attack in Buffalo," she added. "We must advance true accountability and healing, and continue to fight against the shameful rise of white supremacy in our country."
In a statement Friday, Legal Defense Fund president and director-counsel Janai Nelson called the shooting "a sordid example of the rise of anti-Black racism and hate-motivated violent incidents infecting this country, and the urgent need to root out white supremacy in all its forms."
Nelson explained:
We have strongly condemned the actions of the Buffalo shooter previously, and today, we remain steadfast in the condemnation of this deeply violent and racist act. We stand with the Buffalo community as it continues to reel from this painful event and continues to work to heal. We also demand that the federal government pursue an all-of-government approach to hate-motivated incidents that leads with prevention of and protection from white supremacist violence.
We do not, however, believe that the death penalty is a part of this equation. In times rife with extreme violence, we cannot resort to capital punishment as a solution. We are dismayed at the DOJ's pursuit of the death penalty, as these difficult circumstances are a critical opportunity for the department to instead show courage, leadership, and a commitment to rooting out white supremacy through means that are not merely punitive but that are effective. Justice for the many Black people that were killed in this horrendous attack does not begin with pursuit of the death penalty, which is the very practice that has been used, and continues to be used, in a racially discriminatory fashion to execute Black people and harm Black communities.
"We roundly condemn the pursuit of the death penalty in all circumstances," she stressed. "There is no evidence that the death penalty will deter violence generally or hate-motivated violence specifically. To protect Black communities from white supremacist violence, the federal government must address the root causes of white supremacy and prioritize investing in the health and continued recovery of communities impacted by hate-driven violence."
Friday's decision is the first time the Justice Department, under Biden-appointed U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, has sought a new death sentence, though the DOJ has previously continued to pursue it in a couple of cases that began under the Trump administration.
As The Associated Pressdetailed Friday:
Garland instituted a moratorium on federal executions in 2021 pending a review of procedures. Although the moratorium does not prevent prosecutors from seeking death sentences, the Justice Department has done so sparingly.
It successfully sought the death penalty for an antisemitic gunman who murdered 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue, though that attack was authorized as a death penalty case before Garland took office. It also went ahead last year with an effort to get the death sentence against an Islamic extremist who killed eight people on a New York City bike path, though a lack of a unanimous jury meant that prosecution resulted in a life sentence.
The Justice Department has declined to pursue the death penalty in other mass killings, including against the gunman who killed 23 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas.
White House spokesperson Jeremy Edwards told Politico on Friday that the grocery store shooting was an "an absolute tragedy, and the president continues to pray for the victims of this unspeakable act of violence." He also said that "the president has long talked about his views on this issue broadly, but we would leave it to the appropriate authorities to speak to individual cases and sentencing decisions," and directed journalists to the Justice Department.
Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul told reporters that "I support the Department of Justice" in this decision, while victims and their families had mixed reactions. Attorneys for some of them said that the death penalty decision "provides a pathway to both relief and a measure of closure."
However, Michelle Fryson, whose cousin Margus Morrison and aunt Pearl Young were among those killed, suggested that the move means the case could drag out indefinitely due to appeals, according to The Buffalo News.
"It could go on forever. He's a young man. For my family's sake, I wanted them to have closure," said Fryson. "To never have closure, to always be in this circus is exhausting and exasperating."
Sonya Zoghlin, an assistant federal public defender representing Gendron, said in a statement, "Rather than a prolonged and traumatic capital prosecution, the efforts of the federal government would be better spent on combating the forces that facilitated this terrible crime, including easy access to deadly weapons and the failure of social media companies to moderate the hateful rhetoric and images that circulate online."
While Biden has faced criticism for not delivering on his 2020 campaign promise, Republican presidential candidates have made their support for capital punishment clear. The federal government executed 13 people under former President Donald Trump and when the GOP front-runner announced his 2024 campaign, "he called for the use of the death penalty against alleged drug dealers," Politico noted Friday. "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has also increased the availability of the death penalty."
Last summer, HuffPost's Jessica Schulberg reported on the Democratic president's lack of action and the looming GOP threat:
The threat of a capital punishment enthusiast returning to the White House has the abolitionist community hoping Biden will grant clemency to those on federal death row before leaving office—or that the Justice Department will at least stop seeking and defending death sentences.
"If you don't execute anyone, but you usher them all into a President Trump or a President DeSantis, what have you done?" Ruth Friedman, the Federal Capital Habeas Project director, said in an interview with HuffPost. "That's far from clean hands. Quite the opposite."
Noting that reporting on social media on Friday, Schulberg called the Biden administration's decision in Gendron's case a "truly stunning reversal of an explicit campaign promise to abolish the death penalty."
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Social Media Giants, Gun Dealer Among Defendants in Buffalo Massacre Lawsuit
"The Buffalo shooter was radicalized by social media," said one of the plaintiffs in the suit. "Rather than stop the spread of hate, those platforms made money off it."
May 12, 2023
Groups representing survivors and loved ones of victims of last May's racist massacre at the Tops Friendly supermarket in Buffalo, New York on Friday sued numerous social media and streaming companies, a gun dealer, a body armor manufacturer, and the shooter's parents for the wrongful deaths of 10 Black people murdered in the attack.
The
lawsuit—announced during a Friday morning press conference—was filed in the New York State Supreme Court in Buffalo by the Social Media Victims Law Center, The law office of John V. Elmore, and the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence on behalf of massacre survivor Latisha Rogers and three victims' families. Rogers worked at the supermarket and called 911 during confessed killer Payton Gendron's murderous rampage.
Named as defendants in the suit are the owners of several social media platforms and streaming services; RMA Armaments, an Iowa-based body armor maker; Vintage Firearms, a New York-based gun store; MEAN LLC, a Georgia-based firearms accessory manufacturer; and Gendron's parents.
"Social media companies must be held responsible for perpetuating hate and violence."
The social media and streaming services named in the filing include: Meta, Facebook's parent company; Alphabet, which owns Google; Snap, which operates Snapchat; Discord; Reddit; Amazon, operator of the Twitch live-streaming service; as well as the message board website 4chan.
"The Buffalo shooter was radicalized by social media. Rather than stop the spread of hate, those platforms made money off it," Giffords Law Center tweeted. "We're helping bring this lawsuit because social media companies must be held responsible for perpetuating hate and violence."
\u201cNEW: One year after the Buffalo shooting, we\u2019re suing the social media companies that radicalized the shooter and the gun company that illegally armed him on behalf of survivors whose loved ones were killed at the supermarket. https://t.co/GiIj1O2WgN\u201d— GIFFORDS (@GIFFORDS) 1683903375
"Payton Gendron has pled guilty to these murders, and is no longer a danger to society," Elmore said in a statement. "However, the social media platforms that radicalized him, and the companies that armed him, must still be held accountable for their actions. Our goal, on behalf of our clients, is to make this community and our nation safer and prevent other mass shootings."
As ABC Newsreports:
The lawsuit alleges the social media platforms aided in rapidly spreading Gendron's hate via copies of his livestream of the shooting across multiple platforms where it became known as the "murder video" and viewed by more than 3 million people.
Gendron used Amazon's Twitch to livestream the first two minutes of the rampage before it was taken down by the operators of the popular gaming platform, the lawsuit states.
Despite it being taken down, the video was downloaded to 4chan, according to the suit.
In a statement, Matthew Bergman, founding attorney of the Social Media Victims Law Center, said that Gendron "was motivated to commit his heinous crime by racist, antisemitic, and white supremacist propaganda fed to him by social media companies."
\u201cHeartshattering. Leandra Elliot the daughter of Andre Mackneil, will experience her 1st Mother\u2019s Day without her father. \n\nShe found out she was pregnant when she was burying her father. @WGRZ\u201d— Robert Hackford (@Robert Hackford) 1683900678
"These posts led him down a rabbit hole of increasingly radical sites, where he was indoctrinated in white supremacist replacement theory and violent accelerationism," Bergman added. "This horrible crime was neither an accident nor coincidence, but rather the foreseeable result of social media companies' intentional decision to maximize user engagement over public safety."
The lawsuits come as Buffalo prepares to commemorate the first anniversary of the massacre on May 14.
"I'm hoping that something will come out of it," plaintiff Barbara Massey Mapps, sister of victim Katherine "Kat" Massey, said of the suit in an interview with ABC News.
"These big companies only know one thing, money. So, you've got to hurt them."
"Every day or every few days, all you hear about is a mass shooting," Mapps added. "You've got to start somewhere, in order for them to get the message. These big companies only know one thing, money. So, you've got to hurt them. How many people do you want to see dead?"
Responding to the lawsuit, a Snap spokesperson said: "We have a zero-tolerance policy for hate speech and discrimination of any kind. We deliberately designed Snapchat differently than traditional social media platforms and don't allow unvetted content to go viral or be algorithmically promoted. Instead, we vet all content before it can reach a large audience, which helps protect against the discovery of potentially harmful or dangerous content."
\u201c@NewYorkStateAG Mean Arms makes and sells a magazine lock, known as the MA Lock, that can easily be removed so that detachable magazines, including high-capacity magazines that hold more than ten rounds of ammunition, can be inserted into a rifle.\u201d— Everytown (@Everytown) 1683828967
Last December, the city of Buffalo
sued several gun manufacturers and distributors for "endangering the safety and health of the public."
Friday's lawsuit follows another filed on Thursday by New York Attorney General Leticia James, a Democrat, against MEAN, accusing the company of helping Gendron evade the state's ban on high-capacity assault-style rifles.
"The racist mass shooting at the Tops grocery store in Buffalo was one of the darkest days in the history of our state and our nation," James said in a statement. "We lost 10 innocent lives because a hate-fueled individual was able to make an AR-15 even deadlier through a simple change at home."
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'No Mercy': Life in Prison for Racist Gunman Behind Buffalo Grocery Store Massacre
"There is no place for you or your ignorant, hateful, and evil ideologies in a civilized society," said a county judge. "The damage you have caused is too great, and the people you have hurt are too valuable to this community."
Feb 15, 2023
The gunman who killed 10 people and injured three in a shooting at a Tops grocery store in Buffalo, New York last May was sentenced on Wednesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole, in an emotional hearing during which the family members of some of the victims addressed him directly.
Both Erie County Court Judge Susan Eagan and the relatives spoke in no uncertain terms about the white supremacist views that led Payton Gendron to deliberately target a grocery store frequented by Black community members in an attack that he plotted for months beforehand.
"There is no place for you or your ignorant, hateful, and evil ideologies in a civilized society," Eagan told Gendron. "There can be no mercy for you, no understanding, no second chances. The damage you have caused is too great, and the people you have hurt are too valuable to this community. You will never see the light of day as a free man ever again."
"You are a cowardly racist. You recorded the last moments of our loved ones' lives to garner support for your hateful cause, but you immortalized them instead."
All 10 of the people Gendron killed in the massacre, which he livestreamed, were Black. Prior to the shooting, he professed a belief in so-called "replacement theory," the false notion that white Americans are being intentionally "replaced" by people of color.
"You are a cowardly racist," said Simone Crawley, whose grandmother, Ruth Whitfield, was killed in the shooting. "You recorded the last moments of our loved ones' lives to garner support for your hateful cause, but you immortalized them instead."
Crawley added that Gendron was the only person who directly carried out the attack, but rejected the label of "lone wolf," saying he is "part of a larger organized network of domestic terrorists."
"And to that network, we say we, as a people, are unbreakable," she said.
Gendron spoke briefly at the hearing, saying he is "very sorry" for carrying out the mass shooting and does not want similar racist attacks to take place.
"I shot and killed people because they were Black. Looking back now, I can't believe I actually did," he said. "I know I can't take it back, but I wish I could, and I don't want anyone to be inspired by me and what I did."
Gendron was not flagged by New York's "red flag law," which ostensibly allows law enforcement agents to remove firearms from the possession of people deemed a threat to themselves or others. In 2021, he underwent a psychiatric evaluation after threatening to commit a murder-suicide.
One spectator on Wednesday began screaming at Gendron as he spoke, and earlier in the hearing, a person was restrained after attempting to lunge at him.
\u201cPolice rush to restrain a man after he charges at the Buffalo grocery store mass shooter during an emotional sentencing hearing.\u201d— The Recount (@The Recount) 1676477085
The New York Timesreported that people assembled in the courtroom were heard "sobbing loudly into their hands" and that court security officers as well as a defense attorney representing Gendron became visibly emotional.
Gendron earlier pleaded guilty to 10 counts of first-degree murder and one count of domestic terrorism motivated by hate.
Federal hate crimes and weapons violation charges, some of which could carry a death penalty sentence, are pending.
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