Payton Gendron’s lifetime sentence won’t start in a state prison yet – and it is possible he will not ever be sent to one.
He could end up in a federal correctional facility.
With his state case ending Wednesday, Gendron will now be transferred to federal detention for the duration of his hate crime case in federal court in Buffalo.
On Thursday, U.S. marshals will take custody of Gendron pursuant to a federal writ, Erie County Sheriff John Garcia said.
Gendron still faces 27 felony charges – including multiple counts of hate crimes that resulted in death.
As the judge sentenced Payton Gendron to a lifetime in prison, the hearing was also about the systemic racism and social media influences that created a monster who targeted Black shoppers.
He has pleaded not guilty to those charges and will appear for a status conference Thursday before Magistrate Judge H. Kenneth Schroeder Jr.
It is not yet known whether the U.S. Justice Department will seek to put him to death if convicted of the federal charges.
“The federal prosecution is relevant, obviously, in terms of whether or not he is going to get the death penalty,” Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said. “But that’s the only decision that really needs to be made in this entire process. He will spend, no…
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