August 17, 2025
Lawyers for Payton Gendron argued that the federal charges should be dropped because there were not enough Black people on the jury that convicted him.
On Aug. 14, lawyers for Payton Gendron, the white supremacist who killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket in May 2022, argued that the federal charges against their client should be dropped because there were not enough Black people or other minority groups on the jury that convicted him
Gendron’s constitutional rights were violated as a result, they say.
According to the Associated Press, U.S. District Judge Lawrence Vilardo noted that their objection to a lack of Black and other people of color seemed to him “a little incongruous” considering their client is accused in a hate crime case. Gendron’s federal charges are separate from the state charges which he was convicted of in 2022.
Gendron is currently serving eight life sentences and could face the death penalty if he is convicted on federal charges in the trial slated to begin next June.
“It is very ironic that attention to this problem is being brought out in this case, where Payton Gendron committed a racially motivated homicide,” attorney John Elmore, who represents some of the victims’ relatives in lawsuits, told reporters by phone after the hearing. “But this has been a persistent problem in our courts that needs to be addressed.”
According to Gendron’s lawyers, Black people, Latinx people, and men are “systemically and significantly underrepresented” in the lists created for jurors to be selected from.
“To illustrate this point, the grand jury that indicted Payton Gendron was drawn from a pool from which approximately one third of the Black persons expected and one third of the Hispanic/Latino persons expected,” they argued.
According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Caitlin Higgins, the issue is a “technical violation” and doesn’t rise to the evidence necessary to completely dismiss the indictment.
Notably, Gendron’s lawyers have previously challenged the demographic composition of his federal jury, in April, they filed a motion to move the trial to New York City so that it could be tried by a racially diverse, impartial jury.
Additionally, as a result of their concerns over the jury selection process, the lawyers requested that the death penalty be removed as a potential punishment. Villardo denied the latter request, but has not decided on whether to move the trial.
According to ABC News, the families of some of the victims, like Wayne Jones, the son of 65-year-old victim Celestine Chaney, are vehemently opposed to moving the trial.
“What could you really call a ‘fair trial’ and you’re on video doing it?” Jones said in reference to the livestream video of the mass shooting that Gendron recorded. “We all know you did it. You already pleaded guilty once.”
He continued, “The only way you could watch that video and not give him the death penalty is if you’re really against it. The only way you could watch that video and not give him the death penalty is if you’re really against it. I want him to stay here so I can see the trial. In New York City, we wouldn’t be able to go to the trial.”
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