Hi, I'm Diane Maceda. We have breaking news.
We've just learned the Justice Department will seek the death
penalty for the convicted shooter in the racially motivated mass
shooting at a Buffalo,
NY supermarket. The 20 year old has already been sentenced
to life without parole in the state case,
but he still faces 27 federal counts,
including hate crime and firearm charges.
For more, let's bring in ABC News,
Morgan Norwood and ABC's legal contributor Brian Buckmeyer.
Brian What goes into this decision of whether or not
to seek the death penalty?
And why seek it here,
but not at the state level
more than or afternoon? Sorry,
what? What goes into it is the actual charges themself.
And then also they look to the aggravating factors that
they believe they can prove in a case to ultimately
get them
past that threshold of the death penalty.
I'm thinking of the heinousness of the crime,
the number of victims, the fact that a crime occurred
while the murders were occurring,
as well as well as the preparation of the premeditation
of the crime,
These factors. I didn't go into it in terms of
answering the question why the death penalty,
the federal level and not the state level?
Well, the state of New York doesn't have the death
penalty,
but the federal government does.
And so that's why we're seeing
different sentencing levels at different levels of of of criminal
culpability.
Usual is it to seek the death penalty in a
federal case.
It's not very unusual. We we've seen it in a
number of times.
However, I think it's more unusual on the back end
as to whether or not it happens.
We saw thirteen federal executions near the end of former
President Donald Trump's
presidency, but before that there was a 17 year hiatus.
In fact, currently there's a moratorium on the death penalty
in the federal government through President Joe Biden.
So really, when we talk about the potential for someone
being executed,
it's really about what future presidents may think about whether
or not someone should be put to death.
Morgan, what have you heard from the families on this?
Well, Diane, I can say that this was a racially
motivated attack.
And so we know that the DOJ,
the Justice Department, has faced growing pressure to send us
a clear and strong message about these types of cases.
So I'd imagine for the family,
I mean, look, they've had delays with this case before.
I mean, the time that it's taken for the DOJ
to decide,
I've heard from family members say that this was agonizing
for them,
for. So for for them,
this is the first step as they continue the journey
on closure and healing.
Brian, there's a federal hearing set for this afternoon.
What do you expect to come out of that?
I think the announcement that they are seeking the death
penalty,
the justification for it as well.
And there might be some negotiation as to when the
next court date is,
because as we've already, you've already told us the the
shooters already pled guilty in state court.
One would assume that if he can avoid the death
penalty through a plea negotiation or maybe even plead guilty
and do what we saw in Florida with the Florida
school shooting where he ultimately got a life in prison,
this might be a situation where we avoid any litigation
as to guilt or innocence and move towards sentencing,
where pleading guilty could give you a mitigating factor to
help avoid the death penalty.
Morgan, how is the community coping with the tragedy and
with the fact that this case is still ongoing?
Yeah, I think you just hit the nail on the
head.
I mean it. It is.
It's incredibly tough for them,
right. I mean, this is heartbreaking.
It shattered this predominantly black community here.
And so they are on the journey,
foreclosure. They're on the journey for healing.
And so that is what they're looking for.
They're continuing to reel. And even this process alone is
going to be critical
as they continue to search for that.
I will say that there this shooting,
you know, brought up a lot of anger,
a lot of hurt, a lot of outrage.
So it's like that we're still seeing that linger even
as this process continues.
Diane. All right. Morgan Norwood,
Brian Buck Meyer. Thank you both.