Payton Gendron was present at the verdict reading. Also some relatives of the victims. The procedure was stopped on several occasions due to the reactions of those present. Gendron apologized to the judge, however, one of the prosecutors stressed that the apology was aimed at avoiding the death penalty.
Dressed in orange overalls, escorted and wearing glasses: this is how Payton Gendron entered the courtroom. Payton Gendron killed ten African-American people last year in a shopping center in Buffalo, in the limits of the state of New York, United States. He was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison, without the right to parole.
“There can be no mercy for you, no understanding, no second chances,” said Erie County Judge Susan Eagan, who read the verdict.
“I am so sorry for all the pain that he forced all the victims and their families to suffer,” Payton Gendron said followed by a cry of pain from an aide. And it is that 13 relatives of the victims were present in the compound where the sentence was announced.
Cited by the Reuters news agency, prosecutors said that the defendant went to a supermarket located more than 300 kilometers from his home with the intention of attacking black people with his assault weapon. The events occurred in May of last year.
One of them ruled that his apology was “to save his life in federal court.” And it is that Payton also faces 27 federal charges, for which his lawyers are trying to reach an agreement on the basis of his guilt to avoid the death sentence, in the event that the Department of Justice advocates capital punishment, since this is not under New York law.
At another point, the relative of one of the deceased jumped on Payton Gendron, prompting law enforcement to intervene. No charges will be filed against the family member. Nor to another who shouted that he did not know “what the families were going through”. This was also withdrawn by court officials.
Last November, Payton Gendron had pleaded guilty to hate-motivated murder and terrorism charges. During the events, the accused used bullet-resistant tactical clothing, illegal high-carry ammunition magazines, a case, and a camera incorporated into it to transmit the attack.
Before arriving at the site of the event, the aforementioned had published a kind of online manifesto in which he explained that he had chosen that supermarket because it was located in a neighborhood where African-Americans predominated. He also wrote that he hoped the attack would help preserve white power in the United States.
