Shooter who killed 10 Black people in Buffalo, NY, says grand jury was too white

[MarcATL]

A white supremacist who shot and killed 10 Black people at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, asked a judge to dismiss his federal case because not enough Black and Hispanic people were on the grand jury that indicted him, a motion filed by his attorneys on Aug. 14 said.

Lawyers for Payton Gendron, the gunman who is serving 11 life sentences on state charges in connection with the 2022 massacre, said Black and Hispanic people are "systematically" underrepresented in the Southern District of New York's jury pools, violating the constitutional rights of defendants, the motion said.

In response, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Gendron's lawyers failed to prove there is a systematic underrepresentation in the jury pool and urged the judge to reject the motion. The judge has not filed a decision as of Aug. 15.

MSN

This is definitely a new one.

Didn't his lawyers play a part in jury selection?

I will bet the farm they didn't want any black or Hispanic jurors.

This reminds me of the "Influenza" bullshit from some years back.

 

[AZrailwhale]

Exactly correct .. in both Federal and State courts, the judge (and sometimes the clerk processes) determines who will serve on the grand jury (not the prosecution or the defense - although they can object).

They are normally selected from the regular jury pool. I was on one, we heard minor criminal cases to save the court time. The standard we had to use was given what the prosecutor presented us was it likely that the defendant committed the crime.