Lawyers for racist Buffalo killer seek to share evidence with families of victims
The federal lawyers for Payton Gendron, the teenage racist who fatally shot 10 Black people in Buffalo, are asking a judge to give them permission to more widely share evidence with the families of those who were killed.
Lawyers for the families are considering lawsuits against social media companies, a firearms manufacturer and others.
Before the May 14 mass shooting at the Tops in East Buffalo, Gendron, then 18, had journeyed among an online netherworld of racists and white supremacist ideologies. Those online sites helped propel him to target the Tops because of its high concentration of Black residents in the neighborhood, law enforcement and the attorneys for the families allege.
Buffalo attorney John Elmore, who represents three of the families, said in an interview this week that online sites have found ways to entice individuals like Gendron who already have the seeds of racist beliefs. Gendron on May 14 drove from his Southern Tier home of Conklin after earlier scoping out the Tops as a target.
He videoed the mass murder, a video that continues to be shared online.
"With certain people like Gendron the algorithms were directed towards him," Elmore said. "It was all of this social media that radicalized him. It has radicalized other mass shooters in the same way, before and after Gendron.
"It's almost like some of the homegrown Islamic terrorists that have been radicalized by the Internet."
Under a court order, attorneys for the victims' families have been able to look at some evidence at the Federal Public Defender's Office, but could not copy or make notes. The order "restricting victims’ legal counselfrom having a copy of the discovery (evidence) or taking notes regarding same has made their meaningfulreview of this material impossible," the Federal Public Defender's Office wrote in the court papers filed Friday.
The proposal, which a federal magistrate judge would have to approve, would still restrict some of the evidence available to the attorneys. What would be available for copying would be information from Gendron's cellphone and computers.
Also available under the proposal would be social media data, including "Payton Gendron’s computer files, text messages, emails, and social media accounts, as well as his activities on various social media platforms."
Gendron has pleaded guilty to state murder and hate crime charges and agreed to a sentence of life without parole. Federal prosecutors have yet to agree to such a plea, and are still pursuing a case that would have the death penalty as an option upon conviction.
In their proposal to share evidence, federal defense lawyers for Gendron note that he has agreed to plead guilty to the murders in federal court also.
"Of course, the only reason any protective order (for evidence) is required is that the government has not yet declined to pursue the death penalty in this case," the defense attorneys wrote. "If and when it agrees to do so, Payton Gendron is prepared to enter a plea of guilty to the charges and receive a sentence of life withoutthe possibility of release to be served consecutively to the life without parole sentence previously imposed in state court."
On Friday Magistrate Judge H. Kenneth Schroeder Jr. directed federal prosecutors to respond by May 19 to the proposal from defense lawyers. The U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment on the proposal.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Lawyers for Payton Gendron seek to help families of murder victims
