Jury selection to begin in federal hate crimes trial over Buffalo, N.Y., supermarket shooting

Jury selection is scheduled to begin on Tuesday in the federal trial of Payton Gendron, who is accused of carrying out a white supremacist hate crime at a Buffalo, New York supermarket in 2022. The lone gunman killed ten people, including his mother Celestine Chaney, and wounded several others. Gendron has been facing federal hate crime charges and firearms charges since his guilty plea in a state murder trial.

Although his defense team will not contest his guilt, they aim to present mitigating evidence to the jury in their decision-making process. The attack is believed to be the deadliest anti-Black hate crime shooting in the last century, and Black people have been the primary numerical target in hate crimes since 1991. The Justice Department has decided to pursue a death sentence, making it the first capital case under then-Attorney General Merrick Garland.