Should This Murderer Be Sentenced To Death?
Gunman in Pittsburgh synagogue shooting found guilty in 2018 massacre
Robert G. Bowers faces potential death penalty in the killing 11 people in the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.
A Pennsylvania man was found guilty Friday on federal charges of fatally shooting 11 people and wounding seven others at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018, a verdict that makes him eligible for the death penalty for what authorities say was the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.
A 12-member jury in federal court in Pittsburgh convicted Robert G. Bowers, 50, of Baldwin, Pa., on multiple counts after two weeks of searing testimony from dozens of prosecution witnesses, according to the Associated Press. Among those who testified were survivors, including police officers, who had been shot during the attack.
Prosecutors also played haunting 911 emergency calls, during which victims could be heard screaming and struggling to breathe before dying amid rapid gunfire from Bowers, who used an AR-15 assault rifle and three handguns.
Five police officers were wounded as they attempted to apprehend Bowers during the attack on Oct. 27, 2018, in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood, a longtime Jewish enclave. Bowers fatally shot six victims in the head and fired about 100 rounds of ammunition in all, prosecutors said.
“The defendant turned this sacred ground of worship into a hunting ground,” prosecutor Mary Hahn told the jurors in her closing arguments Thursday, according to local news accounts.
Bowers’ defense team, which did not call any witnesses and introduced no evidence, did not dispute that he carried out the massacre. In her opening statement, public defender Judy Clarke suggested that Bowers was motivated to violence not because of a hatred of Jews, but rather because he feared that congregants were aiding immigrants, whom he considered a threat to Americans.
“None of this is true,” another defense attorney, Elisa Long, said during her closing arguments Thursday. “But it is what Mr. Bowers believed to be true.”
Bowers sat next to his lawyers at the defense table during the trial, but he did not testify. Survivors and family members of the victims also attended the proceedings each day.
The first phase of the trial determined whether Bowers would be found guilty or not guilty of the charges. A second phase, now that a jury found him guilty, will determine whether he will face the death penalty or life in prison.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, and the next phase of the trial could last up to six weeks, authorities said.
Defense lawyers have filed motions stating that Bowers suffers from schizophrenia and epilepsy, brain impairments that they could argue are mitigating factors against capital punishment. Prosecutors rejected a defense offer of a plea agreement that would have resulted in Bowers spending the rest of his life in prison. District Judge Robert Colville permitted prosecutors to conduct their own psychiatric analysis of Bowers in the days before the trial began in late May. The results remain confidential.
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If the jury does not find unanimously in favor of capital punishment, Bowers would automatically receive a sentence of life in prison, under federal sentencing guidelines.
During the first phase of the trial, prosecutors called an FBI specialist to read dozens of vile anti-Semitic messages and memes that Bowers posted on Gab, a social media website popular with far-right extremists, including neo-Nazis. Witnesses testified that Bowers entered the Tree of Life synagogue on a Saturday morning when members of three congregations — Tree of Life, Dor Hadash and New Light — that shared the building were observing Shabbat prayer services.
Bowers killed members of each congregation, moving through the building from the chapel to the basement and stalking his victims in the pews, a kitchen and a supply closet.
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers testified that he survived after hiding in a bathroom for more than 40 minutes, one hand clutching the door handle in case Bowers tried to burst in. Dan Leger, who was wounded, testified that he thought he was going to bleed to death from a gunshot to the abdomen in a synagogue stairway before being rescued by a police officer.
Bowers retreated to an empty children’s classroom on the third floor and engaged in a fierce shootout with SWAT team officers, during which he was shot and surrendered after running out of bullets.
Those killed were: Rose Mallinger, 97; Bernice Simon, 84, and her husband, Sylvan Simon, 86; brothers David Rosenthal, 54, and Cecil Rosenthal, 59; Dan Stein, 71; Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz, 66; Joyce Fienberg, 75; Melvin Wax, 87; Irving Younger, 69; and Richard Gottfried, 65. Leger and Andrea Wedner, Mallinger’s daughter, were shot but survived.
On the final day of testimony Wednesday, Wedner, 66, testified that she and her mother tried to hide in the pews of the Pervin Chapel. Bowers found them after returning to the room and shot them both.
When police officers found her, she said she kissed her fingers and pressed them to her mother’s skin, calling out, “Mommy,” as they led her out.
After Wedner finished testifying and left the courtroom, prosecutors played the audio recording of her 911 emergency call. She could be heard saying, “Oh God, I can’t believe this is happening” amid screaming in the chapel.
After the recording ended, prosecutors rested their case.
David Nakamura covers the Justice Department with a focus on civil rights. He has previously covered the White House, sports, education, city government and foreign affairs.
Democracy Dies in Darkness
© 1996-2023 The Washington Post
Should This Murderer Be Sentenced To Death?
Gunman in Pittsburgh synagogue shooting found guilty in 2018 massacre
Robert G. Bowers faces potential death penalty in the killing 11 people in the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.
A Pennsylvania man was found guilty Friday on federal charges of fatally shooting 11 people and wounding seven others at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018, a verdict that makes him eligible for the death penalty for what authorities say was the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.
A 12-member jury in federal court in Pittsburgh convicted Robert G. Bowers, 50, of Baldwin, Pa., on multiple counts after two weeks of searing testimony from dozens of prosecution witnesses, according to the Associated Press. Among those who testified were survivors, including police officers, who had been shot during the attack.
Prosecutors also played haunting 911 emergency calls, during which victims could be heard screaming and struggling to breathe before dying amid rapid gunfire from Bowers, who used an AR-15 assault rifle and three handguns.
Five police officers were wounded as they attempted to apprehend Bowers during the attack on Oct. 27, 2018, in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood, a longtime Jewish enclave. Bowers fatally shot six victims in the head and fired about 100 rounds of ammunition in all, prosecutors said.
“The defendant turned this sacred ground of worship into a hunting ground,” prosecutor Mary Hahn told the jurors in her closing arguments Thursday, according to local news accounts.
Bowers’ defense team, which did not call any witnesses and introduced no evidence, did not dispute that he carried out the massacre. In her opening statement, public defender Judy Clarke suggested that Bowers was motivated to violence not because of a hatred of Jews, but rather because he feared that congregants were aiding immigrants, whom he considered a threat to Americans.
“None of this is true,” another defense attorney, Elisa Long, said during her closing arguments Thursday. “But it is what Mr. Bowers believed to be true.”
Bowers sat next to his lawyers at the defense table during the trial, but he did not testify. Survivors and family members of the victims also attended the proceedings each day.
The first phase of the trial determined whether Bowers would be found guilty or not guilty of the charges. A second phase, now that a jury found him guilty, will determine whether he will face the death penalty or life in prison.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, and the next phase of the trial could last up to six weeks, authorities said.
Defense lawyers have filed motions stating that Bowers suffers from schizophrenia and epilepsy, brain impairments that they could argue are mitigating factors against capital punishment. Prosecutors rejected a defense offer of a plea agreement that would have resulted in Bowers spending the rest of his life in prison. District Judge Robert Colville permitted prosecutors to conduct their own psychiatric analysis of Bowers in the days before the trial began in late May. The results remain confidential.
Get the Post Most Newsletter
The most popular and interesting stories of the day to keep you in the know. In your inbox, every day.
If the jury does not find unanimously in favor of capital punishment, Bowers would automatically receive a sentence of life in prison, under federal sentencing guidelines.
During the first phase of the trial, prosecutors called an FBI specialist to read dozens of vile anti-Semitic messages and memes that Bowers posted on Gab, a social media website popular with far-right extremists, including neo-Nazis. Witnesses testified that Bowers entered the Tree of Life synagogue on a Saturday morning when members of three congregations — Tree of Life, Dor Hadash and New Light — that shared the building were observing Shabbat prayer services.
Bowers killed members of each congregation, moving through the building from the chapel to the basement and stalking his victims in the pews, a kitchen and a supply closet.
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers testified that he survived after hiding in a bathroom for more than 40 minutes, one hand clutching the door handle in case Bowers tried to burst in. Dan Leger, who was wounded, testified that he thought he was going to bleed to death from a gunshot to the abdomen in a synagogue stairway before being rescued by a police officer.
Bowers retreated to an empty children’s classroom on the third floor and engaged in a fierce shootout with SWAT team officers, during which he was shot and surrendered after running out of bullets.
Those killed were: Rose Mallinger, 97; Bernice Simon, 84, and her husband, Sylvan Simon, 86; brothers David Rosenthal, 54, and Cecil Rosenthal, 59; Dan Stein, 71; Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz, 66; Joyce Fienberg, 75; Melvin Wax, 87; Irving Younger, 69; and Richard Gottfried, 65. Leger and Andrea Wedner, Mallinger’s daughter, were shot but survived.
On the final day of testimony Wednesday, Wedner, 66, testified that she and her mother tried to hide in the pews of the Pervin Chapel. Bowers found them after returning to the room and shot them both.
When police officers found her, she said she kissed her fingers and pressed them to her mother’s skin, calling out, “Mommy,” as they led her out.
After Wedner finished testifying and left the courtroom, prosecutors played the audio recording of her 911 emergency call. She could be heard saying, “Oh God, I can’t believe this is happening” amid screaming in the chapel.
After the recording ended, prosecutors rested their case.
David Nakamura covers the Justice Department with a focus on civil rights. He has previously covered the White House, sports, education, city government and foreign affairs.
Democracy Dies in Darkness
© 1996-2023 The Washington Post