Peyton Gendron, accused of killing 10 black people in a racist attack in Buffalo, New York, faces 25 charges, including "domestic terrorism" and "hate crimes," which could carry life imprisonment.
The indictment against 18-year-old Gendron is based on "murder" after he shot a group of people at a local store in Buffalo on May 14.
The young man is accused of trying to kill three people who were shot during the attack but survived.
Gendron pleaded not guilty, while prosecutors said May 20th that the jury had voted to press charges against him, noting at the time that "proceedings are still under way."
Brian Parker, Ginderon's lawyer, said he "has not seen the list of charges and cannot comment on them." He noted that the judge "prevented them from discussing the case in public".
If convicted, Gendron faces life in prison, with New York State not having the death penalty, and the "terrorism charge" carrying emotional echoes to send an important message about extremism.
Gendron is accused of "domestic terrorism", which is linked to "murder on the basis of race or color".
At least 18-year-old Gendron opened fire at a supermarket saturday in Buffalo, northern New York, killing at least 10 people, mostly African Americans, in an incident authorities considered a racial massacre.
John Elmore, a lawyer for the families of two victims, said, "Gundron was motivated by hatred against people he had never met for no reason other than the color of their skin."
The state's former governor, Andrew Cuomo, proposed the Domestic Terrorism and Hate Crimes Act in August 2019, following a mass shooting of Mexicans at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, which became law in April 2020 and came into effect the same year.
The sister of one of the victims of the massacre, an old woman who was shot dead by the "white bigoted racist killer", demanded that he be imprisoned for the next 80 years in a cell with a black prisoner.