Noted Buffalo lawyer Terry Connors is the man on the ground for what will be a major group of legal cases spilling from the Jefferson Avenue Massacre on May 14. He’s working with national social justice lawyer Ben Crump, backed by the Rev. Al Sharpton.
While state and federal courts were slowed by the long pandemic, Connors said they are spinning up toward full activity. There are expected to be criminal cases in both state and federal courts, with the admitted white supremacist suspect from Broome County potentially being indicted on federal charges carrying a death penalty.
Connors said there will be legal action on many fronts, although perhaps not against the alleged killer.
“I don’t know if we will file against him. That’s going to be handled by the federal and state prosecutors, but we’ll look to see whether there was anyone else who contributed to this," he said. "It had to have been known to others along the way. Whether or not they assisted, they were accomplices or, as Ben is saying quite elegantly, those who loaded the gun.”
Connors suggested in an interview that a lot of people are going to be looked at, in a case which left 10 people dead in and around a supermarket on a Saturday afternoon.
“What they could possibly think was going to happen when an 18-year-old with a mental health history is buying body armor, buying guns, AR-15s, buying high magazines, 70 rounds a minute? What do they think is going to happen?” Connors said.
He doesn’t ignore a look at how government handled the case of a young man who was disturbed enough to have been sent for an evaluation, after some violent talk.
“New York State has some of the toughest laws in the United States, but it's not just having the laws. It's the implementation. It's the monitoring. It's following up. It's doing what the laws say you are supposed to do," he said. "Nobody would disagree that they failed here. There were red flags all over the place.”
The lawyers for the families of the 10 murdered people are getting additional resources from the Brady Center, a group which has long fought for tougher controls on guns.
“There will be spotlight on others for their wrongdoing. There will be punishment there. There will be pain inflicted on others, as well. And that's what we're going to try to accomplish," Connor said. "But it's all in the interest of change. We think we can change and the Brady Center's going to be a great addition to us. 'Cause I've worked with them before and they have actually accomplished some change, gotten some goals accomplished.”
Brady is named for the press secretary of President Ronald Reagan who received major brain injuries when shot during an assassination attempt on the president.
