Buffalo shooter’s lawyers plan to file notice of insanity

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Lawyers were back in federal court Tuesday afternoon to discuss the timing of filing an insanity notice by the defense of Buffalo mass shooter Payton Gendron.

Gendron is currently serving life in prison without parole after pleading guilty to hate-motivated murder and domestic terrorism charges. Now his case is headed to a federal trial.

The US Department of Justice announced last January that it would seek the death penalty.

The attorneys gathered before Judge Lawrence Vilado to set a date when the defense can file a 12.2 motion, or notice of insanity. The defense argued to push back the date, calling the motion an “enormous task.” The prosecution argued it wanted time after the defense filed the motion to obtain its experts. Vilado decided to maintain the deadline of May 19, 2025.

The families of the shooting victims said they did not accept the claims of insanity.

“Well, we know it’s crazy,” said Barbara Massey-Mapps, sister of Katherine Massey, victim of the racist shooting. “If you can sit there, I don’t watch a lot of Court TV, but if you can plan (and) execute it, you were fine at that point. But naturally the defense is going to try to make it run, run , run. We understand. It’s painful? Yeah, we’re tired of it. But we just have to wait until September of next year.

Neither defense attorneys nor prosecutors commented.

Gendron’s federal trial date is set for September 8, 2025.