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Biden Fails a Death Penalty Abolitionist’s Most Important Test

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The mystery of Joe Biden’s views about capital punishment has finally been solved. His decision to grant clemency to 37 of the 40 people on federal death row shows the depth of his opposition to the death penalty. And his decision to leave three of America’s most notorious killers to be executed by a future administration shows the limits of his abolitionist commitment. The three men excluded from Biden’s mass clemency—Dylann Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and Robert Bowers—would no doubt pose a severe test of anyone’s resolve to end the death penalty. Biden failed that test.
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New York | Buffalo mass shooter will appear in court for federal hate crimes case

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BUFFALO, N.Y. — The man responsible for the racially-motivated mass shooting at the Tops supermarket in Buffalo is due back in federal court on Tuesday morning.

Federal prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty against Payton Gendron, the White supremacist who killed 10 Black people in the mass shooting on May 14, 2022.

Gendron is already serving a sentence of life in prison without parole after he pleaded guilty to state charges. 

While New York State doesn’t have the death penalty, the Justice Department has the option of seeking it in a separate federal hate crimes case.

Gendron’s appearance comes after the court granted an extension for the U.S. government to file its affidavits. 

The federal trial is expected to begin in September of 2025.

His appearance also comes after the dedication of a new memorial at Tops to honor the victims two years after the mass shooting. Hundreds of people came to the ceremony unveiling the “5/14 Honor Space.”

According to a post that Payton Gendron made online, he also planned to target the Tops in Rochester on West Avenue, also in a majority Black community.

Source: whec.com, Staff, May 21, 2024

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde



Location: Buffalo, NY, USA
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