US

Death penalty for Pittsburgh synagogue gunman who killed 11 people

Truck driver Robert Bowers (50) perpetrated the deadliest attack on Jews in US history

Court sketch artist drawing of Robert Bowers who has been sentenced to death. Photograph: Dave Klug via AP

Wed Aug 2 2023 - 18:38

A jury has imposed the death penalty on a man who spewed antisemitic hate before fatally shooting 11 worshippers at a synagogue in the heart of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community.

Truck driver Robert Bowers (50) perpetrated the deadliest attack on Jews in US history. Entering the Tree of Life synagogue on October 27th, 2018, he opened fire with an AR-15 rifle, shooting everyone he could find in a mass murder motivated by religious hatred.

Bowers raved on social media about his hatred of Jewish people – using a slur for Jewish people some 400 times on a social media platform favored by the far right – and remains proud that he killed Jews.

“Do not be numb to it. Remember what it means. This defendant targeted people solely because of the faith that they chose,” said Eric Olshan, US attorney for the western district of Pennsylvania, during the court case.

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Victims of the shooting top row, from left, Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil Rosenthal, and David Rosenthal; bottom row, from left, Bernice Simon, Sylvan Simon, Dan Stein, Melvin Wax, and Irving Younger Photograph: United States District Court Western District of Pennsylvania via AP

In federal capital cases, a unanimous vote by jurors in a separate penalty phase of the trial is required in order to sentence a defendant to death. The judge cannot reject the jury’s vote. If jurors are unable to reach a unanimous decision, the offender is instead sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release.

On Wednesday, the same jury that convicted Bowers on 63 criminal counts recommended he be put to death. A judge was due to formally impose sentence later.

Bowers’s attorneys argued that he has schizophrenia, a serious brain disorder whose symptoms include delusions and hallucinations, and that he attacked the synagogue out of a delusional belief that Jews were helping to bring about a genocide of white people by coming to the aid of refugees and immigrants.

[ Truck driver convicted of killing 11 in US synagogue shooting ]

The defense also presented evidence of a difficult childhood.

Olshan disputed the defense experts’ diagnosis of schizophrenia, asserting Bowers was not suffering psychosis but had chosen to believe white supremacist rhetoric. While acknowledging there was no question Bowers was a depressed, neglected child, Olshan downplayed the significance of it, noting Bowers had held jobs, paid bills and was an otherwise functioning adult.

“He was not a child, he was a grown man. He was responsible for his actions, not his family and things that happened decades earlier. He was, he is responsible for his actions,” Olshan said.

Prosecutors presented witnesses and evidence to show Bowers carefully planned the attack and deliberately targeted vulnerable elderly worshippers.

The attack also wounded seven people, including five responding police officers. Bowers was shot three times before surrendering when he ran out of ammunition. - The Guardian

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