Pittsburgh synagogue shooter will be sentenced to death, jury finds
US Attorney Eric Olshan argues before a federal jury on July 31 that Robert Bowers should receive the death penalty. Bowers, wearing green, was previously found guilty of killing 11 people int he deadliest antisemitic attack in US history. (Dave Klug via AP)
Nearly five years since he entered the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and methodically slaughtered 11 Jewish congregants, Robert Bowers will face the death penalty after a jury unanimously decided that he deserved the maximum sentence for each of the murders. His attack is the worst act of antisemitism in US history.
Shortly before noon on Wednesday, the federal judge in the case, Robert Colville, reviewed how the jurors voted on each of the 115 mitigating factors they were asked to consider. None of the jurors were persuaded by arguments that Bowers had brain abnormalities, suffered from schizophrenia, or was motivated by delusional beliefs about Jewish people being used by Satan to bring about the end of the world.
Ronald S. Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, said after the verdict was announced, “Today’s decision represents a measure of justice for the slaughter of 11 Jewish worshippers on that fateful day in 2018 at the Tree of Life synagogue. Nothing can ever bring back the people killed in the attack, the deadliest act of antisemitism in the history of the United States.”
