Jurors who convicted the Pittsburgh synagogue gunman will now weigh a potential death sentence
PITTSBURGH (AP) — More than a week after convicting a gunman in the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history, jurors began hearing arguments in federal court Monday about whether he should receive the death penalty for killing 11 worshippers inside a Pittsburgh synagogue.
The sentencing phase is expected to take four or more weeks — longer than the three weeks it took the jury to hear trial testimony and reach a verdict.
The magnitude of Robert Bowers' crimes is staggering, prosecutor Troy Rivetti told the jury as opening statements got underway.
“He came to kill,” Rivetti said. “The defendant entered the Tree of Life synagogue, a sacred place to gather and pray, and he murdered 11 innocent worshippers."
From the beginning, the punishment that Bowers will receive — a death sentence or life in prison without parole — has been the only question in the case, as his own attorneys admit he carried out the 2018 attack and offered only a token defense at trial.
Attorneys for Bowers have long signaled their focus would be on trying to save his life . They are expected to contend Bowers has schizophrenia, epilepsy and brain impairments.
The jury convicted Bowers on June 16, after five hours of deliberations, on all 63 counts he faced. He showed little reaction when the verdict was read.
The sentencing portion of his trial comes as the death penalty has become a more prominent topic in the 2024 presidential race. The federal death penalty wasn’t a high-profile issue until former President Donald Trump’s administration resumed executions in 2020 after a 17-year hiatus. With 13 inmates put to death in his last months in office, Trump oversaw more federal executions than any president in more than 120 years.
