A U.S. federal judge on Thursday asked the Joe Biden government to make a quick statement on whether it wants the death penalty for the young white supremacist who killed 10 black people in a Buffalo supermarket in May.
Payton Gendron, 18, who was charged yesterday with a “racist crime” by a federal judge, appeared before Judge Kenneth Schroeder in federal court in Buffalo, New York for the first time on Thursday.
During this procedural hearing, he said he was unemployed and had only $16 in his bank account and sought legal assistance.
The magistrate gave him the services of a public defender, noting that his case could be costly to taxpayers.
“When the death penalty is possible, defense lawyers have an even greater responsibility,” he explained, and soon required expertise, primarily psychiatric and digital.
“I hope the Department of Justice will make a quick decision at this point so that we will know as soon as possible whether he will be sentenced to death and what budget will be allocated,” continued Judge Schroeder.
A federal prosecutor said the decision would be made “after a rigorous, fair and expedited process” by Attorney General Merrick Garland.
The day before, Garland had left the door open, stating that he would consult “the families of the victims” before making a decision.
But Biden promised to work to abolish the death penalty at the federal level during his campaign, and his attorney general placed a moratorium on federal executions shortly after the election.
Gendron is also on trial for “domestic terrorism” and “murder” in the New York state court that abolished the death penalty in 2004.
On May 14, after months of preparation, the young man went to a supermarket with a semi-automatic rifle and a camera, filmed his actions and broadcast the whole thing live on the Internet.
He shot at customers and employees in the parking lot and inside the store, killing 10 people and injuring three, almost all black.
His motivation was “to prevent blacks from replacing whites … and to inspire similar attacks,” according to the federal indictment, which references a fashionable conspiracy theory among white supremacists.
source: Noticias
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