Motion filed to delay federal Gendron trial

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) -- The attorneys representing the Tops mass shooter have asked a judge to delay his federal trial by a year.

Payton Gendron’s legal team filed a motion this week requesting an adjournment of the current trial start date – Sept. 8 – and asked for it to be pushed back exactly one year.

Gendron’s defense team laid out its proposed trial schedule, which would start next Monday with a motion to change venue. The motion requests that the trial take place outside of Western New York.

The motion argues that the requested adjournment is “necessary to comport with the sixth amendment’s requirement for effective assistance of counsel.”

Attorney John Elmore represents some of the victims’ loved ones. He said that while many are hoping for this case to be finished, there is concern that this request could lead to an appeal of a verdict.

“If there is a guilty verdict, the defense would argue in appeal that they didn’t have enough time and that there was an inadequate assistance to counsel,” Elmore said. “And a lot of capital cases do get turned over or appealed, successful appeals, because of ineffective assistance to counsel. So I don’t know what the judge is going to do.”

Gendron shot and killed 10 people and injured three others in a racist attack at the Tops on Jefferson Avenue on May 14, 2022. He could face the death penalty if convicted. Gendron is currently serving life in prison after pleading guilty to state charges.