DOJ to Seek Death Penalty for Buffalo Mass Murderer

Payton Gendron, the 18-year-old who murdered 10 people at the Tops Grocery Store in Buffalo in May 2022, is facing federal murder and hate crime charges which, if convicted could result in a death sentence. Greg Norman of Fox News reports reports that Gendron’s case will be the first time Attorney Merrick Garland’s Justice Department has decided to seek or uphold a death sentence since it defended Boston Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s  conviction and death sentence in 2021. Under Garland’s leadership, the DOJ has withdrawn from seeking the death penalty in over two dozen federal murder cases. As with the Boston Bomber case (United States v. Tsarnaev) the Attorney General’s decision  appears to be political. Gendron has already been convicted of the murders in New York and is serving a life without parole sentence.  He has agreed to plead guilty to the federal charges in exchange for another life sentence.

Under normal circumstances a federal prosecution of Gendron would be unnecessary. But 2024 is an election year and, according to recent polls,  President Biden is losing support among likely minority voters. Gendron intentionally targeted a community with a high black population and drove 3 1/2 hours from his home to kill black people. To leave him in a New York prison, when the current Administration could have him sentenced to death, would be a missed opportunity to cultivate minority voters. Under this administration, the rare decision to allow federal prosecutors to seek a death sentence is made by Attorney General Garland.