BUFFALO, NY (WKBW) — The federal case against the confessed Tops shooter continues to move forward.
Payton Gendron faces a 27-count federal indictment for killing ten people and injuring three outside the Tops Market on Jefferson Avenue in Buffalo on May 14, 2022.
The case includes ten counts of hate crimes and firearms charges and he could face the death penalty.
Another status conference was held in U.S. Federal Court in Buffalo Wednesday.
This status conference centered around a potential trial date for the Tops shooter, but it was held before a different federal judge than previous appearances.
A status conference for the Tops shooter just ending in federal court. But Payton Gendron did not appear. This was before US Judge Lawrence Vilardo. He would preside over a potential trial in this case. The judge telling lawyers he wanted “to get a handle” on case. @WKBW pic.twitter.com/cjBRSIr4XO
— Eileen Buckley (@eileenwkbw) March 1, 2023
Gendron did not appear for the court conference, waiving his right.
Last month the shooter was sentenced to life without parole on state charges.
The next day, federal U.S. Magistrate Judge Kenneth Schroeder called for a trial to begin 120 days from March 10th. If you do the math that would put a trial start date in July.
Gendron was also placed in federal custody and is now being held at the Livingston County Jail.
But a trial date would only be set if the U.S. Attorney General seeks the death penalty.
Federal Judge Lawrence Vilardo says he would be presiding over that trial and wants to get a "handle on” this case and noted he agrees with Judge Schroeder who has already called for a speedy trial.
“I want to get a handle on it,” remarked Judge Vilardo.
I asked Zeneta Everhart, whose son Zaire Goodman survived the shooting, about talk of a potential trial.
“It came out from the last hearing, you know, that there may be a trial — but I think that they are kind of dotting their ‘I's' and crossing their 'T’s', making sure that you know they are doing everything that they can to make sure this is a speedy process — that's from what we understand,” responded Everhart.
“Once I set a trial date, it’s cast in stone,” Judge Vilardo stated. “I don’t want to be unrealistic."
Judge Vilardo asked both sides when would be best for the next status conference.
The defense asked for six months and you could hear one of the family members laugh.
The defense told the judge it has 4.1 terabytes of material in this mass shooting case, noting one portion of it continues more than 55,000 pages of documents.
Prosecutors say they have turned over everything in the case to the defense.
The judge has set the next status conference for June 8th at 9:30 a.m. But there is another date in Judge Schroeder's court set for next Friday, March 10 at 10:30 a.m.
There still is no word from the federal government on when the U.S. Attorney General would be issuing a death penalty decision.
Everhart also stated “nothing really came out today” referring to the status conference. But she noted that families continue to stand together.
“Making sure that we’re here whenever there is something going on for this case — we’re going to be here,” remarked Everhart.
