# Death penalty jury selection begins in Buffalo shooting trial > Payton Gendron faces federal charges for the 2022 massacre that killed 10 Black people. Potential jurors are being questioned about their views on capital punishment. - Title: Death penalty jury selection begins in Buffalo shooting trial - Summary: Payton Gendron faces federal charges for the 2022 massacre that killed 10 Black people. Potential jurors are being questioned about their views on capital… - Keywords: payton gendron, buffalo supermarket shooting, death penalty, jury selection, federal trial, hate crime, buffalo new york, news, Death, penalty, jury, selection - Source: ABC News — https://abcnews.com/US/potential-jurors-buffalo-mass-shooters-federal-trial-face/story?id=137220317 - Author: ABC News - Read time: 2 min - Topics: payton gendron, buffalo supermarket shooting, death penalty, jury selection, federal trial, hate crime, buffalo new york, news ## Gendron faces federal death penalty charges Payton Gendron, twenty-three, is charged in a twenty-seven-count federal indictment including ten counts of hate crimes resulting in death for the May fourteen, twenty twenty-two attack. ## Already serving life on state charges Gendron pleaded guilty to state charges in February twenty twenty-three and was sentenced to life in prison without parole plus ninety years for killing ten Black people at a Buffalo supermarket. ## He rejected a plea deal Gendron pleaded not guilty to federal charges after the Department of Justice rejected his proposal to plead guilty in exchange for them not seeking the death penalty. ## Biden administration chose death penalty The Department of Justice decided to pursue the death penalty in January twenty twenty-four under the Biden administration while Merrick Garland was serving as U.S. attorney general. ## The May twenty twenty-two attack On May fourteen, twenty twenty-two, Gendron, then eighteen, livestreamed a massacre at a Tops supermarket on Buffalo's east side, killing ten people and seriously injuring three others. ## Gendron's statement at state sentencing At his state sentencing, Gendron said: I did a terrible thing that day. I shot and killed people because they were Black. I believed what I read online and acted out of hate. > I did a terrible thing that day. I shot and killed people because they were Black. ## Defense says he will die in prison Gendron's attorneys stated: Nothing will change the fact that Payton Gendron will die in prison. They said they will offer mitigating evidence at trial for the jury to consider. > Nothing will change the fact that Payton Gendron will die in prison. ## Jury selection challenges emerge One potential juror said she could not mentally handle graphic evidence including the livestream video. Another said the death penalty should exist on a case-by-case basis. > I mentally cannot handle that. ## Judge outlines jury and timeline Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo said twelve jurors and six alternates will be selected. The evidence portion is tentatively scheduled to begin in December, with proceedings expected through February twenty twenty-seven. ## Death penalty requires unanimous jury decision If Gendron is convicted of at least one capital murder charge, the jury must unanimously decide to impose death. If even one juror votes for life, the judge must impose life in prison. ## Jury selection will take several weeks About one thousand two hundred potential jurors who completed an initial questionnaire in June were summoned to court for more extensive questioning to determine if they can serve as fair and impartial jurors. ## Key takeaway Jury selection began in the federal trial of Payton Gendron, who killed ten people in a racially motivated attack at a Buffalo supermarket in May twenty twenty-two and is already serving life without parole on state charges.