Buffalo Attorney Argues Tops Shooter Did Not Commit Hate Crime By Murdering 10 Black People

     Attorney Brian Parker is either incredibly racist or willing to do anything for money. The cartoonishly-villainous attorney is representing someone I'll call P.G. to avoid giving him the notoriety he probably craved so desperately. P.G., a then-18-year-old from a MAGA-loving family in the New York boondocks, murdered 10 African-American people at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York, in May 2022, which, alongside the Uvalde school shooting, led to the passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, signed by President Biden in June of that year.

     Aside from the fact that all of the deceased victims in this case were black, Gendron also posted a manifesto online that mirrored MAGA talking points and the "white replacement theory" pushed by prominent right-wing figures like Tucker Carlson. Perhaps most shockingly, Gendron apologized to a horrified white man he stumbled upon in the midst of the carnage. In February 2023, P.G received 11 life sentences without the possibility of parole plus 90 years in prison after pleading guilty to state charges of domestic terrorism motivated by hate, 10 counts of capital murder, and numerous other charges of attempted murder and criminal possession and use of a firearm.

     At that hearing, after one of the victim's family members lunged at P.G., the young man offered an emotionless prepared apology likely written for him claiming that he "couldn't believe" that he "actually did it." Before the mass murderer spoke, Brian Parker took to the stand to try to make himself seem like a good guy. “Our client is responsible for this crime. He will spend the rest of his life locked away and eventually, he will die in state prison. We hope that knowing he will never be free again will offer some small bit of comfort to those that he hurt so much,” he said in part.

     No, Mr. Parker, that is not comfort. The only comfort will come when your client is strapped to a gurney being pumped full of lethal chemicals with his family watching the life fade from his eyes. He can still talk to his racist mom, dad, and siblings. 10 other families and dozens of people at the store that day, meanwhile, will have to live with holes in their hearts for the rest of their lives. If Parker's attempts at image preservation and the shooter's soulless excuse for an apology were not enough to demonstrate where Parker's priorities really lie, his actions in federal court certainly are.

     P.G. still faces federal charges, and, in 2024, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that the DOJ would seek the death penalty against this domestic terrorist. Since then, the case has continued to work its way through court. This week, Parker appeared with his client and argued for the dismissal of the hate crime charges against his client. His first argument was that because P.G. pleaded guilty to hate crime-related charges in New York state court, the federal charges amounted to unconstitutional prosecution subject to double jeopardy. The judge dismissed this argument before the hearing was even over. Many of the cases related to issues of race that I have covered, including the murder of George Floyd, resulted in both state and federal charges from the same set of facts, as have many mass shootings.

     His second argument is that because the Justice Department failed to identify specific black people that Gendron attempted to kill in its indictment against P.G., the charge was unconstitutionally vague. The DOJ has responded that it identified nearly 70 specific individuals of color at the Tops supermarket that the shooter tried to murder that day. Attorneys representing the families of five of the 14 total deceased and injured victims say that it is unlikely this argument will hold, either, and I agree. This is a very open-and-shut federal hate crimes case. Brian Parker can delay all he wants, but, at the end of the day, this heartless monster he has as a client is almost certainly going to be convicted of federal hate crime charges and is almost certainly going to be sentenced to death. He can join the Boston Marathon bomber, the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter, and the Charleston church shooter as the only people on federal death row in the United States.

     I suppose it doesn't matter for Brian Parker. He will keep getting paid to defend this vile waste of oxygen. If you want to write a review of Brian Parker or give him a phone call to let him know what you think about white supremacy and mass murder, you can do so here.