Alleged Tree of Life shooter to have 2-phase sentencing, judge decides
Robert Bowers will have a two-phase sentencing if he is convicted in the 2018 mass shooting that killed 11 worshippers at Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood.
U.S. District Judge Robert Colville ruled Monday that the phased timeline will act as a guide through the sentencing process, which will require that the jury hear victim-impact statements after hearing evidence on why Bowers is eligible for the death penalty.
Jury selection for Bowers’ case is expected to begin April 24.
He is facing more than 60 federal charges from the attack, which also injured 27, including 12 law enforcement officers. Bowers is being held without bond in Butler County Prison.
“The (first) phase of the penalty hearing presumably would rely almost entirely upon the evidence already presented in the guilt phase and involve little, if any, additional information,” Colville wrote in his ruling. “It would nonetheless ensure that the jury’s findings as to intent and the statutory factors would not be influenced by exposure to the separate and unrelated nonstatutory factors and information.”
The defense team for Bowers filed a motion to separate the proceedings on Nov. 30, 2022.
The trial will be divided into three parts. The “guilt phase” is expected to last several weeks. The two-part penalty phase would begin one week later, should Bowers be found guilty, documents said.
The first part of the penalty phase, the eligibility phase, would involve consideration of what is required for the death penalty to be applied and whether the government has met its burden in that respect.
It would exclusively focus on the two findings the jury must make to consider the death penalty — whether intent was established and whether at least one statutory aggravating factor was proved.
The second phase, the sentence selection phase, “will involve the determination of and weighing of all established aggravating and mitigating factors,” according to documents.
These factors, such as victim-impact statements, will be received and weighed by the jury at this time.
Colville said that historically, requests for the multiphase process has been allowed in a court of law.
“In fact, where a request for (splitting the trial into three parts) has been made, the majority of courts grant such relief … and the government points to very few cases where such relief was outright denied,” he said in the ruling.
