Man who killed 10 in Buffalo mass shooting wants death penalty trial relocated to NYC

A white gunman who killed 10 Black people in a Buffalo, New York, supermarket is requesting to move his death penalty trial to New York City to be judged by a racially diverse jury, according to his attorney’s court filing.

Payton Gendron’s attorneys filed the request Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, arguing that assembling an impartial jury would be impossible in the area affected by the shooting. Gendron pleaded guilty to 15 state charges in 2022 for the massacre at the Tops Friendly Market in East Buffalo and now faces a separate jury to decide whether he will be put to death.

“Due to the overwhelming amount of pretrial publicity, combined with the impact of this case on Buffalo’s segregated communities of color, it is impossible for Payton Gendron to select a fair and impartial jury in the Western District of New York,” Gendron’s lawyers wrote.

Read more: USA Today