BUFFALO, NY (WKBW) — It’s been nine months since a gunman traveled to Buffalo and murdered ten people at the Tops Market on Jefferson Avenue.
Wednesday will mark an important day for families who lost loved ones as the gunman faces sentencing in State Supreme Court.
Payton Gendron, 19, pleaded guilty to state charges in November. This week he will be sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars.
While some families of the victims will be in court, one family member says he refuses to attend.
“I want him to suffer. I want him to suffer every day of his life — thinking something can happen to him,” declared Mark Talley.
Talley's mother, Geraldine Talley, was among the ten people murdered by an admitted white supremacist who opened fire at the Jefferson Avenue Tops on May 14, 2022.
Talley says he will not attend Wednesday's sentencing.
“No point to address people who's beneath you. I don't even plan on being there. It's looking like it's just gonna be a circus,” explained Talley.
“I know you're not going to be at the sentencing, but what words would you say to this shooter?” Buckley asked. “I wouldn't say anything. I would just let my hands do the talking,” Talley responded.
Talley calls the shooter a “terrorist” and says he doesn't want to see him get any more so-called "air time”.
The shooter has the right to address the courtroom and the Buffalo News has reported he is expected to speak.
“What if he apologizes? How will that make you feel?” Buckley questioned. “For all I care, he can apologize, catch the holy ghost praise dance. For all I care, I hope he swallows his tongue and instantly dies right there. I wish nothing but sorrow, pain, and everything unfortunate to happen to him and anybody he's ever loved,” Talley replied.
“I can tell you that whatever he says is not going to take away any of the pain that the families are feeling,” Attorney John Elmore noted.
Elmore, Buffalo attorney, represents the families of three of the victims: Andre McNeil, Deacon Hayward Patterson, and Katherine Massey.
Elmore tells me all three of his clients will deliver victim impact statements at the sentencing.
“But they certainly want to express their anger, the pain, the hurt that they feel, and I think that they're relieved that he's going to be spending the rest of his life in jail — that he's never going to be in a situation where he's going to harm anybody else,” Elmore commented.
The day after sentencing, the shooter will appear in federal court for a status conference where he also faces 27 counts in a federal case.
Elmore tells me he believes it will be on a motion by defense attorneys to have him placed in federal custody.
“Why do they want to do this because if he goes into state custody he could be shipped to some prison far away in the Adirondacks or downstate New York and his defense attorneys want to have meaningful access to him while these federal charges are pending where he's facing the potential of a death penalty,” Elmore remarked.
In apast federal court appearance, the defense told the judge the shooter is ready to enter a guilty plea on federal charges in exchange for a life sentence. But Elmore says it is up to the U.S. Attorney General to decide if they will seek the death penalty.
“Do they want the death penalty?” Buckley questioned. “All I can say is that they made their views — expressed their views to the attorney general at a private meeting and I'm not going to discuss their private views — they may want to do so themselves,” responded Elmore.
“I think the death penalty would be the easy way out. I want him to suffer torture for the rest of his life,” Talley stated.
