The man who killed 11 worshipers in a mass shooting at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in 2018 was found guilty of federal hate crimes on Friday.
A jury will now decide whether Robert Bowers should receive the death penalty for committing the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in US history. Sentencing is scheduled for June 26.
Bowers, 50, opened fire on worshipers at the Tree of Life on the morning of October 17, 2018; Another two participants and five police officers were injured in the attack. Bowers surrendered after being shot multiple times by police.
His defense has never maintained his innocence, but rather tried to persuade the jury to spare his life. His attorneys repeatedly offered a plea of guilty to all charges in exchange for life imprisonment, but federal prosecutors chose to proceed with the trial.
The jury found Bowers guilty on all 63 counts, 22 of which carry the death penalty, including federal hate crime charges. The process began in April.
Specific felony charges include 11 counts of obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs, resulting in death, and 11 counts of hate crimes, resulting in death.
His lawyers argue that the death penalty should not be imposed on him as his motive is not to prevent worship, which is a key factor behind the hate crime charge. The defense has also claimed that Bowers suffers from multiple mental illnesses, including schizophrenia and epilepsy.
The guilty verdict was praised by the Pittsburgh congressional delegation.
“This clear conviction … is a clear rebuke of the hatred and anti-Semitism that motivated the defendant to target Shabbat morning worshipers,” Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) said in a statement on Friday.
“May the memories of those taken from us be a blessing forever. And may the strength and resilience shown by survivors, victims’ families and the entire Jewish community throughout this heartbreaking process forever be an inspiration to all of us,” added Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.).
Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.) called the verdict a “step towards justice”.
Bowers’ attorneys did not present any witnesses for the defense, but interviewed the victims and first responders, who spoke on behalf of the prosecution.
“There is no disagreement, there is no argument and there will be no doubt as to who shot the 11 parishioners,” Bowers’ lead attorney Judy Clarke said at the trial. “On October 27, 2018, Robert Bowers, the man seated at that table, entered the synagogue laden with ammunition and firearms.”
Clarke is known for her attempts to keep mass shooters and terrorists off death row. She defended the surviving Boston Marathon bomber, the Unabomber, and the man who shot the then-Rep. Gabby Giffords (D) and five others in Arizona in 2011.
The Boston Marathon bomber was sentenced to death, but his case will be appealed. Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, who died in prison Saturday, and Arizona gunner Jared Lee Loughner successfully escaped the death penalty.
Federal prosecutors asked the surviving victims and witnesses a series of questions to prove the hate crime allegations. Prosecutor Troy Rivetti asked victim Andrea Wedner, who was injured and whose mother died in the attack, if Bowers prevented her from attending church.
“Did you go there to worship and to pray?” Rivetti asked her. “Did the accused prevent you from praying? Did the accused come into the chapel and shoot you?”
She answered “Yes” to every question.
Bowers’ defense went on to argue that he was not specifically aiming to kill Jews; Clarke even attempted to have the religious elements of the hate crime allegations removed, but was unsuccessful.
“The prosecution says that Robert Bowers had a deep and abiding prejudice that he hated Jews,” she said at the trial. “We know there’s more to the story than that.”
According to police, Bowers told arresting officers that he wanted to “kill all the Jews.” Investigators found that he frequently shared white supremacist content online and often railed against immigration and refugee resettlement.
Shortly before the shooting, a congregation held an event in the synagogue to support the resettlement of refugees.
In their closing argument on Thursday, prosecutors reiterated that the Bowers killings were methodical, planned and premeditated.
“We ask that you hold this defendant accountable for everything he did to the surviving believers and told you what happened that day and hold him accountable for everyone who couldn’t tell you what happened that day.” day happened,” prosecutor Mary Hahn told the jury.
The defense again argued that Bowers did not attack the synagogue against Jews, but against those who supported immigrants. Immigrants are not a protected class under hate crime legislation.
“It was not his intention or motive to stop studying religion,” Long said.
Prosecutors called the claim “absurd”.
Jury deliberations began late Thursday and ended late Friday morning after the jury asked several questions to clarify the specific meaning of the hate crime allegations.
The synagogue is located in the historic Squirrel Hill Jewish neighborhood in east Pittsburgh.
In response to Clarke’s attempts to evade execution, prosecutors said the death penalty was “particularly justified here” because Bowers was anti-Semitic and committed the attack during a church service.
Clarke received support for her goals from some representatives of two of the synagogue’s three congregations. The New Light rabbi and members of the Dor Hadash congregations wrote letters to the Justice Department urging prosecutors to avoid the death penalty.
“We are still tending to our physical and emotional wounds, and I do not want them opened any longer,” wrote Rabbi Jonathan Perlman.
However, the families of nine of the 11 victims published a letter in the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle last year saying that accepting a settlement agreement would offer Bowers an “easy way out.”
“We are not a ruthless, pitiless people; As a persecuted people, we understand when there is a time for compassion and when there is a time to stand up and say enough is enough,” they wrote. “His crimes deserve the death penalty.”
Bowers’s is a rare case in which a mass offender is brought to justice, as most end in the perpetrator’s death. The man who killed 12 people at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado in 2012 was sentenced to life in prison, as did the man who killed 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Fla. in 2018 against a church in Charleston, South Carolina , the death penalty was imposed.
Updated at 5:14 p.m
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