Update, Oct. 13, 2026: Jury selection began Tuesday. Judge Lawrence Vilardo questioned a first group of 12 prospective jurors, six men and six women, as a group and then individually about what they knew of the case before trial and their views on the death penalty, Buffalo Toronto Public Media reported. Prospective jurors were told they would learn in November or early December whether they were selected, and the trial is expected to run from December through February, according to that report. The text below was written before the session began.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, in Buffalo, New York, in the federal death-penalty trial of Payton Gendron over the May 14, 2022 shooting at a Tops supermarket that killed ten Black people. A court clerk has put the timeline for seating a jury at six to eight weeks, according to 13WHAM.
This article describes what is scheduled and what is on the court record.
What is happening and when
The case is United States v. Gendron, No. 1:22-cr-00109, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, the federal trial court for western New York, sitting in Buffalo. Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo is presiding.
Spectrum News Buffalo reported that jury selection was moved from Aug. 17 to Oct. 13. The report did not give a reason, and it said the two sides were still settling which experts could examine the defendant.
In March 2026, Judge Vilardo ruled that the trial would stay in Buffalo, according to Spectrum. The defense had asked to move it to Rochester. The judge said an impartial jury could be found in Buffalo even if selection took longer, and he cited the burden on victims’ relatives of traveling.
The charges
A federal grand jury returned a 27-count indictment on July 14, 2022, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office victim notification page for the case, which was last updated May 20, 2026. Fourteen counts are hate crimes, which are federal crimes involving violence because of the victim’s race or another protected characteristic. Ten of those are hate crimes resulting in death, one for each person killed. Three are hate crimes involving attempts to kill three people who were injured. One alleges the attempted killing of additional Black people in and around the store.
The other 13 counts are firearms offenses tied to the hate crimes. The page also says the indictment includes special findings alleging substantial planning and premeditation to commit an act of terrorism.
The Associated Press has described the attack as the deadliest hate-motivated shooting targeting Black people by a lone gunman in the past century.
Why a federal trial, and why the death penalty is possible
Gendron has already been sentenced in New York state court. According to the Associated Press, he pleaded guilty there and was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2023.
The federal case is separate. It charges federal hate-crime and firearms offenses, brought by a different government under different statutes. New York has no state death penalty, but the federal government can seek one, Spectrum reported. Gendron pleaded not guilty to the federal indictment, according to ABC News in June 2026. The federal public defender’s office says he will not dispute his guilt at trial, according to the Associated Press. The AP also reported that the Justice Department rejected an offer from Gendron’s side to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence; the report did not say when.
The Justice Department filed its notice of intent to seek the death penalty on Jan. 12, 2024, when Merrick Garland was attorney general. The AP in August 2025, ABC News in June 2026 and Spectrum on Oct. 12 each reported that prosecutors are still seeking death.
The notice listed nine aggravating factors, which are circumstances prosecutors say justify a death sentence. In September 2025, Judge Vilardo ruled on defense motions to strike some of them, and Spectrum and the Volokh Conspiracy reported that he struck three: injury to surviving victims, an attempt to incite violence, and racially motivated killings. Striking a factor removes it from what the jury may weigh.
On July 27, 2026, Spectrum and the Volokh Conspiracy reported that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the federal appeals court that reviews the trial judge’s rulings, had reinstated those three factors, in United States v. Gendron, No. 25-2570. Prosecutors may rely on the factors in the trial. No report of further review of that ruling had been published as of Tuesday morning.
The federal death-penalty statute, 18 U.S.C. 3593, describes how a capital case proceeds. After a guilty verdict, a separate sentencing hearing is held before the same jury. The government must prove at least one aggravating factor beyond a reasonable doubt. The defense may present mitigating factors, which are information about the defendant’s background and circumstances that jurors can weigh against a death sentence, and those are proved by a preponderance of the information. A death sentence requires a unanimous vote. Otherwise the sentence is life in prison without release or another sentence.
If a death sentence were imposed and appeals were exhausted, the U.S. Attorney’s Office would designate a state that allows executions as the place where it would be carried out, Spectrum reported. New York has not carried out an execution since the 1960s.
How jury selection works in this case
This is a federal case, so jurors are drawn from the whole Western District of New York, not only Erie County. Former Erie County District Attorney John Flynn told Spectrum that the area runs from just west of Syracuse to Buffalo, plus counties to the north and south.
The steps, as reported:
- About 1,200 prospective jurors filled out questionnaires, the written screening forms each person completes before coming to court, over the summer, according to 13WHAM.
- The pool has since been narrowed to about 700 people.
- Those people are to be brought to court in groups of 70, where prosecutors and defense lawyers question them directly in the courtroom.
- The goal is 12 jurors and six alternates, who are extra jurors who hear the case and can step in if a juror cannot continue.
Spectrum reported on Oct. 12 that more than 500 questionnaires have been struck or excused and did not say why. In a June 16 report, Spectrum said people who oppose the death penalty entirely, and people who think this crime should always result in a death sentence, are automatically disqualified.
Each side has 20 peremptory challenges, the strikes lawyers may use to remove a juror without giving a reason, under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 24(b)(1) when the government seeks the death penalty. Spectrum reported on Oct. 12 that the court has rejected more than a dozen requests tied to peremptory strikes, the most recent a defense request for additional strikes.
Spectrum also reported that Flynn said prosecutors will look for patient, fair jurors who are willing to follow the law and open to the death penalty, and that defense lawyers will look for jurors who have not made up their minds.
What the defense says
The federal public defender’s office aims to spare Gendron execution by presenting mitigating evidence, according to the Associated Press. In the AP’s account, the office said that nothing will change that he will die in prison and that nothing it does is meant to disrespect the victims.
The victims and their families
Ten people were killed on May 14, 2022, all of them Black, ranging in age from 32 to 86. The Associated Press names them: Celestine Chaney, Geraldine Talley, Katherine Massey, Pearl Young, Andre Mackneil, Heyward Patterson, Ruth Whitfield, Roberta Drury, Margus Morrison and Aaron Salter, a retired Buffalo police officer working as a security guard at the store. Three other people were wounded.
Families and survivors do not speak with one voice about the death penalty, according to the Associated Press. Wayne Jones, whose mother Celestine Chaney was killed, plans to attend and, in the AP’s account, would rather see Gendron spend years in prison thinking about what he did than be executed.
Zeneta Everhart, a Buffalo Common Council member whose son was wounded in the attack, is not simply in favor of the death penalty, the AP reported. She calls the attack domestic terrorism and has said justice can be served without a death sentence.
Garnell Whitfield, whose mother Ruth was 86 when she was killed, has no view on capital punishment, according to the AP’s paraphrase of his position. He wants the testimony to explore radicalization and social factors.
What is not known
As of about 9:40 a.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, Oct. 13, the available reports were previews. None described the first day in court, including how many prospective jurors reported, whether Gendron was present and what the judge told the group. No outlet had described courthouse security arrangements for Tuesday.
What comes next
The clerk’s estimate, as reported by 13WHAM, is six to eight weeks to seat a jury. Spectrum reported on Oct. 12 that opening statements could come in early December. Spectrum reported on July 30 that the guilt phase and the penalty phase, if the case reaches one, are each expected to last about a month.