Jurors who will decide whether the man convicted in the 2022 Tops supermarket mass shooting receives the death penalty will be partially sequestered throughout the trial, according to a new order issued by the judge.
Under the order, once a jury is selected and the trial begins, jurors will remain together during recesses and eat lunch as a group inside the courthouse.
The U.S. Marshals Service will also escort jurors to and from court each day. The order does not specify how those arrangements will be carried out.
The judge said the measures are intended to protect jurors from pretrial publicity, safeguard their privacy and make their participation easier during what is expected to be a lengthy trial.
Jury selection is now in its fourth week as the defense team works to spare the gunman's life.
The defendant has already been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on state hate crime charges stemming from the May 14, 2022, attack at the Tops Friendly Markets on Jefferson Avenue in Buffalo, New York.
Ten Black people were killed, and three others were injured in the shooting.
The upcoming federal penalty phase will determine whether the defendant receives the death penalty or life in prison. Jurors will consider the evidence and arguments before deciding.
