According to reports from his counsel, the young Caucasian man who confessed to killing 10 Black people at a supermarket in western New York in May might think about pleading guilty to federal charges provided the prosecution does not seek the death penalty, Reuters reported.
At a court hearing on Friday, just under two weeks after Payton Gendron, 19, pleaded guilty to state counts of murder and domestic terrorism, his attorneys made a motion to negotiate a plea bargain.
He is charged with 27 federal hate crimes and crimes involving weapons in connection with the racial shooting at a Tops Friendly Markets shop. He is an outspoken white supremacist. Authorities claimed that the supermarket’s location in a primarily Black area of Buffalo, New York, was why the man chose to attack it.
In July, Gendron entered a not-guilty plea to the federal charges. He would be subject to the death sentence if found guilty.
On those charges, Gendron faces a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
“Just as Payton Gendron entered a plea of guilty to the indictment in county court, he is prepared to enter a plea of guilty in federal court in exchange of the same sentence, which is the sentence of life in prison, without parole,” defense attorney Sonya Zoghlin said, according to CNN.
Early in the next year, according to the publication, federal prosecutors plan to address the matter with the defense team.
The Justice Department hasn’t determined what penalties it would pursue.
At the time of the shooting, Gendron was 18 years old. In February, he will get a state criminal punishment. In addition to three charges of attempted murder and one case of unlawful weapon possession, he was charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder and 10 counts of second-degree murder, all of which were classified as hate crimes.
Gendron was also charged with one count of domestic terrorism motivated by hatred, making him the first individual to be held accountable under a recently passed New York law.
After putting information online indicating he had been inspired by prior racially motivated mass killings, the shooter broadcast live footage of the attack on May 14 to the social media site Twitch, according to officials.
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