US Can’t Cite Racist Acts as Death Penalty Reasoning in NY Case

The Justice Department can’t cite a White gunman’s racism as an aggravating factor in seeking the death penalty after he killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket in 2022, a New York federal judge ruled.

During trial, the government can offer evidence about Payton Gendron’s racist motives, but federal law prohibits the jury from being asked to focus on the victims’ race as a reason to select a death sentence, said Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo of the US District Court for the Western District of New York.

Vilardo said the government can submit evidence about Gendron’s racist motives ...