Buffalo Mass Shooter Wants Trial Moved to NYC, Citing “Unfair” Local Sentencing
Payton Gendron—the white teenager who murdered 10 Black people at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo in 2022—is asking a federal judge to move his upcoming trial to New York City. He says he won’t get a fair trial in Western New York because of heavy media coverage and the deep emotional impact the shooting had on Buffalo’s Black community.
Gendron already pleaded guilty to state charges in 2022 and is serving life in prison without parole. But he still faces federal hate crime charges, which could bring the death penalty. That trial is set for September.
Now his lawyers say the trial needs to be moved downstate. In court filings, they claim “it is impossible to select an impartial jury in Buffalo due to the overwhelming amount of pretrial publicity” and because of “the impact of this case on Buffalo’s segregated communities of color,” according to ABC News. They’re asking that the trial be moved to the Southern District of New York—which includes Manhattan and the Bronx—where they believe jurors would be more diverse and less affected by local media coverage. Federal prosecutors haven’t responded to the request yet.
Families of the victims are firmly against the idea. Barbara Massey Mapps, whose sister was killed, said, “We don’t want that.” Wayne Jones, who lost his mother in the massacre, added, “I want him to stay here so I can see the trial.”
Jones also said the video Gendron livestreamed during the attack leaves little doubt about his guilt and supports keeping the death penalty on the table.
Gendron has also asked the court to take the death penalty off the table entirely, claiming it’s being applied in a racially biased way. That issue is still pending.
At his 2023 sentencing, Gendron said, “I did a terrible thing that day. I shot people because they were Black,” and apologized to the victims’ families.
Prosecutors say Gendron planned the attack for months, choosing the location because it was in a predominantly Black neighborhood. He drove over three hours, wore body armor, and used a modified AR-15.
