Payton Gendron, who massacred 10 people in a Buffalo supermarket, said he will plead guilty to the murders if his life is spared.

He faces separate federal hate crime charges that could result in him going to the gallows.

Judge H. Kenneth Schroeder Jr. asked lawyers at a status conference in the federal case Friday why they were devoting time and effort to evidence related to Gendron’s guilt when he has already pleaded guilty in state court.

However, the Justice Department has yet to decide whether to seek capital punishment in the case. 

The department has not initiated any new efforts to seek the death penalty since President Joe Biden took office and there is a moratorium on executions.

Sonya Zoghlin, Gendron’s deference attorney, said he will plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence.

Gendron, 19, pleaded guilty last month to state charges in the May 14 murders of 10 mostly Black people at Tops Friendly Market. 

He was indicted on 25 counts, including murder and domestic terrorism motivated by hate. All the charges were state charges. He will face life without parole.

Gendron took a semiautomatic rifle with “Here’s [sic] your Reparations†printed on the gun’s barrel, and wore body armor to carry out the massacre of people who were simply shopping.

Gendron, who lived in Conklin, New York, drove three hours to Buffalo where the largest number of Blacks he could find lived. He wore a helmet and live-steamed the massacre to encourage others to take similar action.

Gendron said he was motivated by the replacement theory in which Blacks will replace Whites.