A Step Toward Justice

"Today's verdict was a step toward justice in Pittsburgh, but the horror and pain of October 27, 2018 will never go away."

"My heart remains with the families of the 11 victims who were massacred as they worshipped at Tree of Life that day."

"May their memories be a blessing."

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro 

"I am grateful to God for getting us to this day."

"And I am thankful for the law enforcement who ran into danger to rescue me, and the US Attorney who stood up in court to defend my right to pray."

"Today, I’m focused on being with my congregation and praying, singing and clapping in praise of God as we do each Shabbat."

Tree of Life Rabbi Jeffrey Myers

The bullet damaged doors of the Tree of Life synagogue building in Pittsburgh, court exhibit by prosecutors in the federal trial of Robert Bowers.

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania via AP

"He is filled with hatred for Jews. That is what propelled him to act."

"[Bernice and Sylvan Simon] died in the pew they sat at week after week, year after year."

"[Many of the victims were elderly], people who needed canes and hearing aids."

"The jury has the opportunity to] hold this defendant accountable ... and hold him accountable for those who cannot testify."

"[This man, the defendant, turned a sacred house of worship into a] hunting ground [when he burst into the synagogue]."

Federal prosecutor Mary Hawn

He is an ordinary man, a truck driver. What distinguishes him from most others is his hatred of Jews. He transformed his hatred into a weapon and used that weapon to destroy the lives of eleven innocent people who just happened to be gathered in a house of prayer dedicated to their Judaic faith. In his murderous zeal he committed the most deadly antisemitic attack the United States has suffered in memory. Charged with 63 criminal counts Robert Bowers has been found guilty on all counts.

Counts that included hate crimes resulting in death and obstruction of the free exercise of religion resulting in death. Among the charges, related punishment carrying the potential of a death sentence. What will result from the sentencing may be unexpected, since the State of Pennsylvania has not carried out an actual death sentence since 1999, while the death penalty has never been revoked there. Furthermore, Pennsylvania's Governor, Josh Shapiro stated it is his intention not to issue any execution warrants during his tenure.

 

First responders surround the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, where a shooter opened fire and 11 people were killed in America’s deadliest antisemitic attack on October 27, 2018. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

 

On his violent storming of the synagogue some 100 rounds were fired by this murderer, reloading several times as he stepped over the bodies of his victims in his search for more Jews to kill. He surrendered only once his ammunition was spent. Trading gunfire with responding officers, Bowers was shot three times. When he was finally taken into custody, he informed arresting police that "all these Jews need to die".

There were no witnesses called by the defence, nor was any evidence presented. At the outset of the trial it was conceded that the Jewish worshippers at the Tree of Life synagogue were deliberately attacked by the defendant who succeeded in his murderous rampage fuelled by fascist hatred, by killing eleven people on October 27, 2018, leaving another seven people injured, among them five police officers.

 

The same jurors that found Robert Bowers, Jew-hater-extraordinaire guilty on all charges laid against him will enter a penalty phase to decide the sentence: life in prison or the death penalty. Evidence of the man's deeply rooted hatred toward Jews and immigrants was presented by prosecutors through 11 days of testimony, where jurors heard that the man before them extensively posted, shared or liked antisemitic and white supremacist content on a social media platform popular with the far right. There, he praised Hitler and the Holocaust.

 

One of the defence's arguments in attempting to spare their client from a possible death sentence was to question the man's motive. Suggesting to jurors at the onset of the trial that the blood-soaked rampage had been spurred psychotically by a delusional belief that Jews were committing genocide through assisting refugees to settle in the United States.

In this combo image made from photos provided by the US District Court Western District of Pennsylvania are the victims of the October 27, 2018, assault on the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. On the top row, from left: Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil Rosenthal, and David Rosenthal; bottom row, from left, Bernice Simon, Sylvan Simon, Dan Stein, Melvin Wax, and Irving Younger. (United States District Court Western District of Pennsylvania via AP)

Benjamin B. Braun/Post-Gazette