A federal jury has decided whether convicted Pittsburgh synagogue mass shooter Robert Bowers will be sentenced to death or life in prison.
The verdict is expected to be announced around noon Wednesday.
The verdict came on the second day of deliberations. All 12 jurors must agree to impose the death penalty.
Bowers shot and killed 11 worshippers, including a 97-year-old woman, at the Tree of Life synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018, in the deadliest antisemitic attack in American history.
In this Oct. 29, 2018 file photo a makeshift memorial stands outside the Tree of Life Synagogue in the aftermath of a deadly shooting in Pittsburgh.
Matt Rourke/AP, FILE
Bowers had offered to plead guilty if the death penalty was taken off the table, but prosecutors turned him down.
He was convicted in June on all 63 charges against him, including 11 counts of hate crimes resulting in death.
A member of the police crosses the street on October 28, 2018 outside the Tree of Life Synagogue after a shooting there left 11 people dead in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh on Oct. 27, 2018.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
On July 13, the jury decided Bowers and the crime met the criteria to be eligible for the death penalty.
That led to the final phase of the trial, which included testimony from victims’ families.
“My world has fallen apart,” Sharyn Stein, wife of 71-year-old victim Daniel Stein, said on the stand, according to Pittsburgh ABC affiliate WTAE. “We were together for 46 years and a part of me is not there now.”
Andrea Wedner, whose mother, 97-year-old Rose Mallinger, was shot dead next to her, testified, “I’m haunted by what happened to me and by what I saw and heard that day.”
In this combo image made from photos provided by the United States District Court Western District of Pennsylvania are the victims of the Oct. 27, 2018, assault on the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. 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. Robert Bowers, a truck driver who shot and killed 11 worshippers at a Pittsburgh synagogue in the nation’s deadliest attack on Jewish people, was found guilty, June 16, 2023.
United States District Court Western District of Pennsylvania via AP, FILE
“The hardest part for me is knowing what happened to her and how she died,” Wedner said, according to WTAE.
Clinical psychologist Dr. Katherine Porterfield testified in Bowers’ defense. She said in a report that the gunman “had multiple, severe, chronic traumatic life events and circumstances that put him at risk for serious mental illness,” WTAE reported.
This undated Pennsylvania Department of Transportation photo shows Robert Bowers.
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation via AP, FILE
Eric Olshan, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, stressed in his closing argument that Bowers “has no remorse for what he has done.”
“He is proud — proud of what he did,” Olshan said, according to WTAE.
Police tape wrapped around a traffic light pole out front of the Tree of Life Synagogue in Squirrel Hill outside of Pittsburgh.
Sopa Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Defense attorney Judy Clarke in her closing argument highlighted Bowers’ mental illness and “chaotic, unstable and unsafe” childhood, WTAE reported.
“There is no justification for the crimes that he committed,” Clarke said, but she asked the jury to sentence him to life in prison.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
