By Joseph Green-Bishop
Texas Metro News Correspondent
Moments before sentencing a 19-year-old White supremacist to life in prison without the possibility of parole, a New York State District Court judge told him that American society would be better if he and the ideologies he promoted were eliminated.
“You will never again see the light of day as a free man again,” said Judge Susan Eagan to Payton Gendron, who chose a supermarket on the east side of Buffalo, NY to attack after discovering that high numbers of Black people shopped there. Gendron traveled 200 miles from his home to commit the killings in May 2022.
Judge Eagan told Gendron that she would show him no mercy after he had apologized to relatives of the people he killed, telling them that he was sorry for what he had done.
Gendron, who posted the killings on the internet, also said in court that others should not attempt to emulate him. He said that he had learned to hate people of color and Jews online.
White supremacy and institutional racism are evil, Judge Eagan said while looking directly at Gendron. “They are an insidious cancer on our society and in our nation. The damage you have caused is too great. The people you hurt were too valuable to this society.”
Directly addressing Gendron whose victims included men and women, ranging in age from 32 to 86; the judge’s message was stern.
“The judge imposed the correct sentence,” said veteran North Texas criminal defense attorney Bobbie Edmonds. “We must pray for the families of the victims, and we must pray that people learn to love all human beings regardless of differences in culture and skin color,”
Ms. Edmonds added that while many had hoped for the death penalty, the death penalty is not an option in New York.
A relative or friend of each of the victims spoke before Judge Eagan pronounced her sentence in the packed Buffalo courtroom. Sheriff deputies had to restrain one man who lunged at Gendron while one of the relatives spoke to the court.
“You are a cowardly racist,” said Ms. Simone Crawley, whose grandmother, Mrs. Ruth Whitfield, was killed by Gendron. “We are extremely aware that you are not a lone wolf, but a part of a larger organized network of domestic terrorists. And to that network we say that we as a people are unbreakable.”
Kimberly Salter, said that she would pray for Gendron. Like others who made impact statements, Mrs. Salter said that she did not hate Gendron for murdering her husband, Aaron, a Buffalo Police Department retiree.
Standing close enough to touch Gendron, and looking directly into his eyes, Salter said, “We will reap what we sow.”
