A federal jury in Pittsburgh unanimously recommended a death sentence Aug. 2 for a Pennsylvania man found guilty of killing 11 congregants at the Tree of Life Synagogue in October 2018. In addition to the fatalities, Robert Bowers, 50, seriously wounded two others and injured five responding police officers, according to a Department of Justice news release.
"The horrific attack at the Tree of Life Synagogue on October 27, 2018, stole the lives of 11 innocent victims, shattered their families, gutted their congregation and the Pittsburgh community and struck fear in the lives of Jewish people across the country," U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in the release. "Hate crimes like this one inflict irreparable pain on individual victims and their loved ones and lead entire communities to question their very belonging. All Americans deserve to live free from the fear of hate-fueled violence and the Justice Department will hold accountable those who perpetrate such acts."
The death penalty recommendation came after two months of deliberations, the release reported. The jury found Bowers guilty on 63 counts, including hate crimes that resulted in death and obstruction of the free exercise of religion that resulted in death, June 16 following three weeks of hearing testimony.
The jury determined Bowers was deserving of the death penalty July 13 after hearing new evidence, according to the release. The jury next heard testimony on aggravating and mitigating factors during the sentence selection phase of the trial, which ran July 17-31, before coming to its unanimous recommendation of the death penalty.
The evidence established Bowers traveled to the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, where worshipers from the Jewish communities of the Tree of Life, Dor Hadash and New Light assembled Oct. 27, 2018. Bowers entered the structure carrying several weapons, including a Colt AR-15 rifle and three Glock.357 handguns, the release said.
Bowers opened fire inside the synagogue, murdering and injuring members of the three congregations and wounding numerous responding police officers who were attempting to save the survivors. According to the release, 11 worshipers were killed, including Irving Younger, 69; Joyce Fienberg, 75; Richard Gottfried, 65; Rose Mallinger, 97; Jerry Rabinowitz, 66; Cecil Rosenthal, 59; David Rosenthal, 54; Sylvan Simon, 86; Daniel Stein, 71; and Melvin Wax, 87.
The defendant also seriously hurt two congregation members, the release noted. Another 12 worshipers were spared harm. Five responding police officers who were hurt while working to save the other victims and capture the defendant are also included as victims.
“The evidence in this trial proved that the defendant acted because of white supremacist, anti-Semitic and bigoted views that unfortunately are not original or unique to him," U.S. Attorney Eric Olshan, for the Western District of Pennsylvania, said. "Our Constitution protects a person’s right to hold repugnant beliefs, but our Constitution also protects every person’s right to practice his or her faith. When people who espouse white supremacist, anti-Semitic, and bigoted views pick up weapons and use them to kill or try to kill people because of their faith, our office and our partners in law enforcement will hold them accountable to the fullest extent of the law, each and every time.”
