Washington (AFP) - A US judge on Thursday asked the Biden administration to decide quickly if it will seek execution for the teenager who shot dead 10 African Americans at a supermarket in May, warning that doing so would cost taxpayers more money.
Earlier this week, authorities announced federal hate crimes against Payton Gendron, 18, saying he was motivated by racist hate when, on May 14, he took a semi-automatic assault weapon to a grocery store in a largely Black neighborhood of Buffalo, New York, and opened fire.
In his first appearance on Thursday in a Buffalo federal court, Gendron said he was unemployed, only had $16 in his bank account and asked for legal assistance.
Judge Kenneth Schroeder agreed to grant Gendron a public defender, but urged prosecutors to make up their minds quickly about whether to pursue the death penalty for the suspect, saying such proceedings would cost additional taxpayer funds.
"The possibility of a death penalty obviously has a greater burden in the defense of the defendant," Schroeder said.
Prosecutors said a decision on the sentence sought for Gendron will be made after a thorough evaluation of the case.
Democratic President Joe Biden ran for office on a promise to work to abolish the federal death penalty, and his top prosecutor issued a moratorium on federal executions pending a review of the process.
Gendron also faces charges of domestic terrorism and ten counts of first degree murder from the state of New York, which abolished capital punishment in 2004.
