Global Courant 2023-05-30 22:49:08
The trial of Robert Bowers, the alleged Pittsburgh synagogue shooter, began on May 30, 2023, more than four years after the crime occurred. The jury in the Bowers trial consists of 11 women and seven men. Some survivors were present at the trial. Prosecutors allege that Bowers harbored “deep, murderous animosity toward all Jewish people” and has expressed hatred toward various Jewish groups.
Prosecutors described Tuesday how a heavily armed suspect raided a Pittsburgh synagogue and shot every worshiper he could find in the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in US history.
The federal trial of Robert Bowers began more than four years after the deaths of 11 worshipers at Tree of Life synagogue.
Twelve jurors and six alternates – chosen on Thursday after more than 200 candidates were questioned for a month – are hearing the case. Among them are 11 women and seven men.
“The depth of the defendant’s malice and hatred can only be proven in the victims’ broken bodies” and “his hate speech,” assistant attorney Soo C. Song said during her opening statement.
Some of the survivors dabbed tears, while Bowers, sitting at the defense table, showed no response.
The defense was expected to present its opening statement before the prosecution began calling witnesses.
Bowers, 50, could face the death penalty if convicted of some of the 63 charges he faces in the October 27, 2018 attack, which claimed the lives of worshipers from three congregations who shared the building, Dor Hadash, New Light and Tree of Life. The charges each include 11 charges of obstruction of the free exercise of religion resulting in death, and hate crimes resulting in death.
Members of the three congregations arrived at the courthouse on a school bus and entered together.
Prosecutors have said Bowers made anti-Semitic remarks at the scene of the attack and online.
TRIAL FOR SYNAGOGUE SHOOTING IN PITTSBURGH SUSPECTED TO BEGIN OVER 4 YEARS AFTER DEATH SHOOTING
In proceedings before and during the questioning of jurors, the defense has done little to cast doubt on whether Bowers was the shooter and has instead focused on preventing his execution.
Bowers, a truck driver from Baldwin, a Pittsburgh suburb, had offered to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence, but federal prosecutors turned him down. Bowers’ lawyers also recently said he has schizophrenia and brain disorders.
Indicating that the guilt-or-innocence phase of the trial seems almost a foregone conclusion, Bowers’ attorneys spent little time during jury selection considering how potential jurors would arrive at a verdict.
Instead, they focused on the sentencing phase and how jurors would decide whether to hand down the death penalty in a case of a man accused of hate-motivated murders at a house of worship. The defense examined whether potential jurors could consider factors such as mental illness or a troubled childhood.
Jewish members of the Pittsburgh community enter a federal courthouse for the first day of the trial of Robert Bowers, the accused in the 2018 synagogue massacre, on May 30, 2023 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
The families of the dead are divided over whether the government should carry out the death penalty, but most have expressed their support.
The trial will take place in the downtown Pittsburgh courthouse of the U.S. District Court for Western Pennsylvania, presided over by Judge Robert Colville, an appointee of former President Donald Trump.
PITTSBURGH SYNAGOGUE SHOOTER’S TRIAL TO START WITHIN THE NEXT WEEKS, THE DEATH PENALTY HAS NOT BEEN RULED OUT
Prosecutors are expected to tell jurors about incriminating statements Bowers allegedly made to investigators, an online trail of anti-Semitic statements they say show the attack was motivated by religious hatred, and the weapons recovered from him at the scene crime scene, where police shot Bowers three times before surrendering.
They indicated in court documents that they could introduce autopsy records and 911 recordings during the trial, including recordings of two phone calls from victims who were then shot dead. They have said their evidence includes a Colt AR-15 rifle, three Glock .357 handguns and hundreds of shell casings, bullets and bullet fragments.
Bowers also injured seven people, including five police officers who arrived at the scene, investigators said.
In an indictment earlier this year, prosecutors said Bowers harbored “deep, murderous animosity toward all Jewish people.” They said he also expressed his hatred of HIAS, founded as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, a non-profit humanitarian group that helps refugees and asylum seekers.
Prosecutors wrote in a lawsuit that Bowers had nearly 400 followers on his Gab social media account “to whom he promoted his anti-Semitic views and calls for violence against Jews.”
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The three municipalities have spoken out against anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry since the attack. The Tree of Life Congregation is also working with partners on plans to revise the current structure, which still stands but has been closed since the shootings, by creating a complex that will house a shrine, museum, memorial and anti-crime center. harbor anti-Semitism.
The death penalty trial continues three years after President Joe Biden said during his 2020 campaign that he would work to end capital punishment at the federal level and in states that still use it. His attorney general, Merrick Garland, has temporarily suspended executions to review policies and procedures, but federal prosecutors continue to work vigorously to enforce the death sentences that have been handed down and, in some cases, to pursue new death sentences during the process.
