17 June 2023 , 13:27
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A truck driver convicted of killing 11 people in a synagogue on the sabbath could face the death penalty for his horrific crimes.
Robert Bowers, 50, was convicted Friday of storming the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh and shooting everyone he could in October 2018.
Bowers' lawyers conceded at the trial's outset that he attacked and killed worshippers and offered a guilty plea in return for a life sentence, but this was refused by the prosecution.
Their client was convicted of all 63 criminal counts he faced, including hate crimes resulting in death and obstruction of the free exercise of religion resulting in death.
The vicious killer murdered 11 people and shot and wounded seven others including five police officers.
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The jury took five hours over two days to reach a verdict.
They must now decide whether he should be sent to death row or sentenced to life in prison without parole as the federal trial shifts to a penalty phase expected to last several weeks.
Bowers faces the death penalty (AP)A number of the victims' families support the decision of prosecutors not to take the plea deal.
"I am grateful to God for getting us to this day," Rabbi Jeffrey Myers of the Tree of Life Congregation, who survived the attack, said in a written statement. "And I am thankful for the law enforcement who ran into danger to rescue me, and the U.S. Attorney who stood up in court to defend my right to pray."
A prosecutor said Bowers turned the synagogue into a 'hunting ground' (AP)Reading each of the 11 victims' names, prosecutor Mary Hahn asked the jury to "hold this defendant accountable ... and hold him accountable for those who cannot testify."
All three congregations sharing the building - Dor Hadash, New Light and Tree of Life - lost members in the attack. The victims ranged in age from 54 to 97.
Congregational leaders said the trial opened new wounds but was also validating.
"We learned things that we did not know," said Stephen Cohen, co-president of New Light. "... In that sense, it was traumatizing. But it's also, in a sense, cathartic because you did hear what happened."
Members of the FBI and others survey the area on October 28, 2018 (AFP/Getty Images)Jo Recht, president of Dor Hadash, applauded the prosecutors' solid case.
"They drew a picture that was even more horrific than we had imagined," Recht said. "And the level of antisemitism, the level of hatred, the volume of the outrageous (social media) posts was really sobering and really frightening. So for the jury to come back so quickly with the verdict of guilty on all 63 counts was affirming, and it was a relief."
Bowers, who had raged against Jews online and at the synagogue, turned a sacred house of worship into a "hunting ground," targeting his victims because of their religion, a prosecutor said.
His defence hopes to save his life and plan to introduce evidence that Bowers has schizophrenia, epilepsy and brain impairments.
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During the trial, the jury learned that Bowers held a deep hatred towards Jewish people and immigrants.
He shared white supremacist and antisemitic content and praised Adolf Hitler.
The defence suggested his motivation was the delusional belief that Jews were committing genocide by helping refugees settle in the United States.
Bowers told police that "all these Jews need to die," prosecutor Hahn said.
The next phase of the trial is due to begin on June 26.
The killings
Bowers arrived at the synagogue armed with an AR-15 assault rifle and other loaded weapons.
Survivors testified about their terror on that day, including a woman who recounted how she was shot in the arm and then realized her 97-year-old mother had been shot and killed right next to her.
Andrea Wedner, the trial's last witness, told jurors she touched her mother's lifeless body and cried out, "Mommy," before SWAT officers led her to safety.
The victims were:
- Joyce Fienberg, 75
- Richard Gottfried, 65
- Rose Mallinger, 97
- Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz, 66
- Brothers David Rosenthal, 54, and Cecil Rosenthal, 59
- Bernice Simon, 84, and her husband, Sylvan Simon, 86
- Dan Stein, 71
- Melvin Wax, 87
- Irving Younger, 69
Other survivors testified of hiding or fleeing for their lives, of making final prayers as they expected to die, of saying farewell to their slain fellow congregants.
The slain were among the congregations' stalwarts, always on time for Sabbath activities, many of which they led.