More than four years after 11 people were gunned down in a Pittsburgh synagogue, a conviction has been delivered in the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.
Robert Bowers, 50, of Baldwin, was found guilty of carrying out the Oct. 27, 2018 attack that killed 11 Jewish worshippers and injured others, including police, at the Tree of Life, Or L’Simcha Congregation building in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood. Two other congregations, New Light Congregation and Congregation Dor Hadash, were also observing Shabbat services in the building during the attack.
Bowers was found guilty on all 63 counts, including hate crimes resulting in death and the obstruction of the free exercise of religion resulting in death. Counts 1-11 are capital offenses, meaning Bowers is now eligible for the death penalty. That sentencing phase is expected to begin on June 26.
Jurors listened to testimony from survivors, police officers and others in the three-week trial. Prosecutors rested their case June 14. Bowers’ attorneys rested the same day without entering evidence or calling any one to testify.
“I am grateful to God for getting us to this day,” Rabbi Jeffrey Myers of the Tree of Life Congregation, who survived the attack, said in a written statement. “And I am thankful for the law enforcement who ran into danger to rescue me, and the U.S. Attorney who stood up in court to defend my right to pray.”
The jury deliberated about five hours over two days before reaching a verdict. Bowers, wearing a dark sweater and blue shirt, had little reaction, as has often been the case throughout the trial. Several survivors and relatives of the deceased victims’ were in the courtroom, bearing quiet witness. A few sniffles were heard in he gallery as the judge intoned “guilty” dozens of times.
Bowers turned a sacred house of worship into a “hunting ground,” targeting his victims because of their religion, a prosecutor told jurors on Thursday. Reading the names of each of the 11 victims he killed, prosecutor Mary Hahn asked the jury to “hold this defendant accountable … and hold him accountable for those who cannot testify.”
Bowers, who was armed with an AR-15 rifle and other weapons, also shot and wounded seven, including five responding police officers.
Prosecutors presented evidence of his deep-seated animosity toward Jews and immigrants. Over 11 days of testimony, jurors learned that Bowers had extensively posted, shared or liked antisemitic and white supremacist content on Gab, a social media platform popular with the far right, and praised Hitler and the Holocaust. Bowers told police that “all these Jews need to die,” Hahn said.
Survivors testified about the terror they felt that day, including a woman who recounted how she was shot in the arm and then realized her 97-year-old-mother had been shot and killed right next to her. Andrea Wedner, the trial’s last witness, told jurors she touched her mother’s lifeless body and cried out, “Mommy,” before SWAT officers led her to safety.
Carole Zawatsky, CEO of the Tree of Life Congregation, said Friday she hoped the verdict would provide survivors and victims’ family members with “some level of comfort and helps to ease the pain, even if ever so slightly.”
With Bowers’ guilt established, survivors and family members of the deceased victims are expected to tell the jury about the devastating impact of his crimes when the penalty phase begins.
Bowers’ attorneys did not mount a defense at the guilt stage of the trial, signaling they will focus their efforts on trying to save his life. They plan to introduce evidence that Bowers has schizophrenia, epilepsy and brain impairments. Defense attorney Judy Clarke had also sought to raise questions about Bowers’ motive, suggesting to jurors that his rampage was not motivated by religious hatred but his delusional belief that Jews were committing genocide by helping refugees settle in the United States.
The three congregations that shared the synagogue building, Dor Hadash, New Light and Tree of Life, have spoken out against antisemitism and other forms of bigotry since the attack. The Tree of Life congregation also is working on a plan to overhaul the synagogue building, which still stands but has been closed since the shootings, by creating a complex that would house a sanctuary, museum, memorial and center for fighting antisemitism.
The trial took place three years after President Joe Biden said during his 2020 campaign that he would work to end capital punishment at the federal level and in states that still use it. His attorney general, Merrick Garland, has temporarily paused executions to review policies and procedures. But federal prosecutors continue to vigorously work to uphold already-issued death sentences and, in some cases, to pursue the death penalty at trial for crimes that are eligible, as in Bowers’ case.
