Jurors Send Pittsburgh Synagogue Mass Shooter to His Death
A Pennsylvania jury on Wednesday rejected Robert Bowers’ claim that he’s a brain-damaged schizophrenic who shouldn’t be executed, instead sentencing the 50-year-old to death for ruthlessly gunning down 11 Jewish worshipers at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in 2018.
The jury’s decision, nearly five years after the massacre, made the victims’ relatives bawl so loud that their cries were heard throughout the halls of the federal courthouse in Pittsburgh, The New York Times reported.
Bowers, 50, was reportedly less emotional himself, briefly whispering to his lawyers and showing little reaction as a judge read the verdict.
The same 12 jurors who convicted Bowers in June on 63 criminal charges, including murder and obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs, were unanimous in their decision Wednesday, a requirement under federal law.
But it’s unclear when—if ever—Bowers will be executed, as the Justice Department has issued a moratorium on capital punishment. Like everyone sentenced to death in federal court, Bowers will automatically be granted an appeal—possibly furthering the date of a potential execution.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, also said earlier this year he hopes to abolish the death penalty in the state, despite saying publicly in 2018 he wanted to see Bowers put to death for the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, who survived the 2018 massacre by hiding in a bathroom, thanked jurors on Wednesday and said his community could now properly heal.
“In the years we have spent waiting for this trial to take place, many of us have been stuck in neutral,” he said in a statement. “It was a challenge to move forward with the looming specter of a murder trial. Now that the trial is nearly over and the jury has recommended a death sentence, it is my hope that we can begin to heal and move forward.”
Death Penalty Opponents Shouldn’t Downplay Mass Shooter’s Antisemitism
There were two phases preceding the jury’s decision: Jurors convicted Bowers in June, then determined a month later that his crimes were cruel enough to be eligible for the death penalty.
In the third phase, Bowers’ defense attorneys pleaded with jurors to spare Bowers’ life—the opposite of what he did for his mostly elderly victims on Oct. 27, 2018. Jurors were tasked with considering 115 potential mitigating factors, with their determination on each one being read ahead of their verdict.
Among the major mitigating factors, all jurors said they did not believe Bowers had schizophrenia or that he “committed the offense under mental or emotional disturbance.”
There was little debate over facts in Bowers’ criminal trial. He and his attorneys conceded that he’d meticulously planned and mercilessly carried out an attack that killed 11 people and injured six others, including four cops.
Instead, the defense focused on convincing jurors that Bowers had lost his mind. They claimed he suffered from schizophrenia, “permanent brain damage,” paranoia and delusions—claims that were disputed by experts called by prosecutors.
Synagogue Shooting Survivor Recalls Rushing to Help During Massacre
Bowers’ attorneys tried to strike a deal with prosecutors before his criminal trial in hopes of avoiding a possible death sentence. Prosecutors refused the offer, however, pushing for Bowers to go before a jury and eventually be sent to death by lethal injection.
The motive behind Bowers’ attack—a profound hate for Jewish people—was repeated throughout the trial and subsequent hearings. Just before the shooting, Bowers posted antisemitic comments online and wrote that he was “going in” against HIAS, a Jewish-American nonprofit that helps refugees resettle in the United States.
Prosecutors revealed that Bowers was active on right-wing forums online, regularly speaking to, and sharing, posts by prominent white supremacists. In posts of his own, he made bigoted statements about Jewish people and immigrants.
“HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people,” he wrote online shortly before the shooting. “I can't sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I’m going in.”
After the slaughter and a shootout with police, Bowers reportedly screamed, “All Jews must die.”
The local Jewish community in Pittsburgh was seemingly split on whether they wanted Bowers to be executed or not, with some local rabbis asking the government to show mercy, citing religious beliefs.
Family members of nine of his victims felt the opposite, however, writing in a letter to the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle last year that if prosecutors accepted a plea deal to send Bowers to life in prison, they would be letting him “have the easy way out.”
“We, as a persecuted people, understand when there is a time for compassion and when there is a time to stand up and say enough is enough,” the letter said. “Such violent hatred will not be tolerated on this earth. Our beloved 11 were taken from us in a brutal, cold-blooded act of hatred and violence…His crimes deserve the death penalty.”
Those killed by Bowers included Joyce Fienberg, 75; Richard Gottfried, 65; Rose Mallinger, 97; Daniel Stein, 71; Melvin Wax, 87; Irving Younger, 69; Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz, 66; the couple Bernice, 84, and Sylvan Simon, 86; and the brothers Cecil, 59, and David Rosenthal, 54.
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