BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Eighteen months after the racist mass shooting at Tops supermarket on Jefferson Avenue, victims families are still waiting for an outcome in the federal case against the shooter.
All of this hinges upon the Department of Justice deciding if they'll seek the death penalty.
The DOJ has already met with the shooter's lawyers and the process has started. The question is, when will it end?
Lawyers say, if the United States Attorney General decides against the death penalty, the shooter will plead guilty to all charges. But if the AG decides to pursue it, a long trial would follow.
The shooter has already pleaded guilty to state charges and is serving life in prison.
Ebony White is Hayward Patterson's niece. "This is an agonizing process," White said.
"You know, you're like we have all the evidence, we have all of these things. But again, everyone gets due process. And unfortunately, again, the due process is causing more injury to us who have been victimized and just a part of this whole system. So from Washington, make a decision and I know it's a hard decision. But [the shooter] made a decision on that day. So I'm asking that Washington make a decision and take this agony from us because it's not in our hands anymore. It is indeed in theirs," White explains.
It's unclear when the DOJ will make a decision about the death penalty.
This case is is due back in federal court, for a status conference, on November 28.
