Global Courant 2023-05-31 00:46:09
Lawyers for suspect Robert Bower admit that he entered the synagogue with the intent to kill Jews.
The man charged with the murder of 11 Jewish worshipers at a Pittsburgh synagogue faces the death penalty as a federal trial is underway.
The trial began Tuesday in a court in downtown Pittsburgh, with lawyers for the accused gunman, Robert Bowers, acknowledging that he planned the 2018 massacre that shook the country and sparked the deadliest act of anti-Semitic violence in the history of the United States. US became.
In her opening statement, defense attorney Judy Clarke said Bowers went to the Tree of Life synagogue and “shot every person he saw” following what she said was an “unthinkable, nonsensical, irrational thought that by killing Jews he would accomplish his goal.” reaches”. goal”.
Bowers espoused anti-Semitic rhetoric and allegedly attacked the synagogue based on his belief that Jews helped immigrants come to the United States. That belief mirrors the white nationalist “great replacement” conspiracy theory that has become more widespread among sectors of the U.S. right-wing and conservative media in recent years.
Bowers, 50, faces 63 charges in connection with the massacre, which killed 11 people and injured seven. The charges each include 11 charges of obstruction of the free exercise of religion resulting in death, and hate crimes resulting in death.
Prosecutors began their case with recordings of 911 calls from the massacre, in which a woman from the synagogue named Bernice Simon says, “We’re under attack!” Her husband, Sylvan, was one of the shots.
Shannon Basa-Sabol, the 911 dispatcher who took the call, testified that she advised Bernice on how to stop the bleeding. Soon after, Basa-Sabol said she heard gunshots and screams when Bernice was also shot.
Both Bernice and Sylvan, aged 84 and 86 respectively, were killed. They were remembered as a compassionate and loving couple.
Like the Simons, many of those killed in the massacre were elderly, a factor federal prosecutors can use when trying to show that Bowers had carefully planned the attack and specifically targeted the most vulnerable.
The Tree of Life Synagogue, lower left, is in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh (File: Gene J Puskar/AP Photo)
Prosecutors said Bowers posted anti-Semitic content online, shouting, “All Jews must die!” when he stormed into the synagogue on October 27, 2018.
“The depth of the defendant’s malice and hatred can only be proven in the broken bodies” of the victims and “his hate speech,” assistant attorney Soo C Song told the jury.
In an indictment earlier this year, prosecutors also said that Bowers expressed his hatred of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), a non-profit organization that assists refugees and asylum seekers. The slogan of the organization is “Welcome the stranger. Protect the refugee.”
Anti-Semitic conspiracy theories have portrayed Jews as financiers and supporters of immigration to the US in a plot to undermine the country and its white population, and prosecutors said Bowers had used social media to call for “violence against Jews”.
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 has pleaded not guilty and faces life imprisonment or the death penalty if convicted.
Lawyers for Bowers have done little to dispute that he carried out the attack, but have argued that a death sentence would be unconstitutional as he suffers from mental health problems such as schizophrenia.
Members of three different congregations using the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood arrived at the courthouse on a school bus on Tuesday, entered together and wiped away tears during the prosecution’s presentation.
Many relatives of the victims have expressed support for a death sentence, but others are divided.
Jewish communities in the US continue to face violent threats and hostile rhetoric. In February, a suspect was charged with a hate crime for allegedly targeting Jews in a shooting outside a synagogue in Los Angeles, California.
