The Pittsburgh synagogue bomber who killed 11 people now faces the death penalty after being convicted on 63 counts including murder and hate crimes.
Robert Bowers, a truck driver, butchered his victims at the Tree of Life synagogue on October 28, 2018.
He never denied the murders, but his lawyers had fought to avoid a death penalty.
They offered an admission of guilt in exchange for a life sentence, but prosecutors, supported by many of the victims’ families, refused.
Robert Bowers, a truck driver, butchered his victims at the Tree of Life synagogue on October 28, 2018
Bowers is featured in a court sketch by May. He has not been seen in public since the shooting in October 2018
At the conclusion of his trial, one of the affected communities released a statement yesterday calling for his death.
“There can be no forgiveness.” Forgiveness requires two components: that it be offered by the wronged person and that it be accepted by the wronged person.
“The shooter didn’t ask – and the dead can’t accept that,” it said.
Now a jury will decide whether to sentence him to death or life imprisonment.
The 2018 attack was the deadliest on Jews in US history.
In their closing arguments, prosecutors related how Bowers used the synagogue as his “hunting ground.”
They told the jury how he frequently posted anti-Semitic, white supremacist content on the social media site Gab and how he often praised Hitler and the Holocaust.
“He hates Jews.” “That’s what made him act,” prosecutor Mary Hahn said.
The October 2018 attack was the deadliest against Jews in US history
Bowers’ attorney, Elisa Long, countered that Bowers was not trying to keep people from worshiping – an element of some of the crimes he is accused of – when he attacked the synagogue.
Rather, in her closing arguments Thursday, she said Bowers had a “nonsensical and irrational” belief that he needed to attack Jews for supporting efforts to help immigrants and refugees, people he viewed as invaders.
When he was finally taken into custody after a manhunt, he told the police: “All these Jews must die.”
Bowers’ Victims: 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
In a statement in April, the sisters of two victims – disabled brothers Cecil and David Rosenthal – said: “We don’t want to be here knowing the emotional toll this process might take.” But we owe it to our brothers Cecil and David .
“The claim that not all family members of the deceased victims wish to pursue a death sentence is false.”
“The published or reported suggestions that family members are relieved of the stress of a litigation or that a cost-benefit analysis requires a plea deal are offensive to our family.”
“This plays directly into the hands of the defense’s ongoing transparent strategy in hopes of delaying that outcome.”
Seven of the nine families whose loved ones were killed supported the death penalty.
But the Dor Hadash and New Light communities, whose members were among those killed, opposed it.
In a letter to the judge, their representatives stated that the death penalty was not in accordance with the Jewish faith.
“In Jewish tradition, courts that hand down the death penalty have been considered bloodthirsty since the days of the wise,” it said.
Also among those killed were brothers Cecil and David Rosenthal, both of whom were born with special needs. Her sisters argued loudly for Bowers to be put to death