BUFFALO, N.Y. (NEWSnet/AP) — The federal trial for Payton Gendron, who killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket, won’t start for at least 18 months to give lawyers time to address legal and logistical details, a judge said Friday.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence Vilardo set a tentative date of Sept. 8, 2025, for the beginning of Payton Gendron’s trial on hate crimes and weapons charges.

Prosecutors had sought an April 2025 start.

“Why do you need so much time?” Zeneta Everhart, whose son, Zaire, was shot in the neck but survived, asked after the hearing. “To me it’s just annoying to keep hearing them push for more time ... Just get on it with already.”

Gendron, 20, is serving a sentence of life in prison after pleading guilty to state charges of murder and hate-motivated domestic terrorism in the 2022 attack.

New York does not have capital punishment, but U.S. Department of Justice said it plans seek the death penalty in the federal case.

Vilardo set a series of filing and hearing dates between now and the trial’s start for preliminary legal challenges, including any defense challenges to the constitutionality of the death penalty.

Prosecutors estimated they will need three to four months to select a jury for the capital punishment case.

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