On 27, October, 2018, Robert Bowers, then 46, allegedly walked into the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and began shooting at worshippers.
He killed 11 people before he was shot and wounded and surrendered to police. Bowers was found guilty on 63 federal counts, including 11 counts each of obstruction of free exercise of religion resulting in death as well as hate crimes resulting in death. He has since been ruled eligible for the death penalty. He pleaded not guilty.
Nearly five years have passed since the shooting, and Bowers has now been given the death penalty.
Robert Bowers
In the months leading up the shooting, Bowers was spewing bigoted and antisemitic vitriol online, investigators say.
He called immigrants "invaders" and posted racist memes, including some that accused Jewish people of being the "enemy of white people."
On the day of the shooting he reportedly posted a message to a web forum, saying "I can't stand by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I'm going in."
He then proceeded to murder 11 people at the synagogue.
The victims killed were Joyce Fienberg, 75; Richard Gottfried, 65; Rose Mallinger, 97; Daniel Stein, 71; Melvin Wax, 87; Irving Younger, 69; Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz, 66; the couple Bernice, 84, and Sylvan Simon, 86; and the brothers Cecil, 59, and David Rosenthal, 54.
Six others were wounded, including four police officers.
After his arrest, police learned that Bowers had 21 weapons registered to his name. He was otherwise unknown to law enforcement.
They then began to review Bowers' online presence, finding an account on Gab — a supposedly free speech oriented, right wing social media alternative to the likes of Twitter — where he posted a steady slew of hate. His bio included the phrase "Jews are the children of Satan" and his posts consisted of anti-Jewish slurs and conspiracy theories, according to the New York Times.
The conspiracy theories included allegations that Jewish people were smuggling Muslims into the US, and another showing an image of the Auschwitz concentration camp, with the photo doctored to make its infamous gate read "Lies Make Money."
Days before the shooting he called then-president Donald Trump a "globalist" — often a term carrying antisemitic implications — and said "there is no #MAGA as long as there is a k*** infestation."
The omitted word is a racial slur used against Jewish people.
The Tree of Life Synagogue— (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
Police claim that after being shot and wounded at the synagogue, Bowers said: “These people are committing genocide on my people. I just want to kill Jews.”
His defence attempted to have that quotation barred from consideration at his trial, arguing he made the statement before he was read his Miranda warning. A judge denied the motion.
The gunman worked as a trucker before the shooting.
Prosecutors argued that hate drove Bowers' attack on the synagogue.
“The depths of the defendant’s malice and hate can only be proven in the broken bodies” of those killed, and through “his hateful words,” Assistant US Attorney Soo C Song said during her opening statement.
Prosecutors claimed in an earlier filing that Bowers “harbored deep, murderous animosity towards all Jewish people.”
The defence — after unsuccessfully arguing against the use of Bowers' statements to police and for a change of venue — have filed a notice of mental infirmity again his potential sentencing, according to court records. They claim Bowers has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and epilepsy.
His attorneys also offered a plea deal in exchange for the removal of the death penalty, but prosecutors rejected that offer.
Of the 63 counts that Bowers was convicted on, 22 carry capital punishment as a possible sentence.
In July, a jury ruled that Bowers was eligible for the death penalty. If jurors ultimately decide to hand down a death sentence, Bowers will be the first person to face federal execution under Joe Biden’s administration.
The third and final phase of Bowers’ trial began in late July. A jury will determine Bowers’ sentence during a trial that is expected to last two to three weeks.
The sentencing trial included further victim impact statements. Prosecutors focused on Bowers’ history of hate and premeditation in planning and executing the attack. They also highlighted that many of the victims were elderly.
The defence challenged those points by hilighting mitigating factors — like pleas from relatives and details about his troubled childhood — in an attempt to convince the jury to spare Bowers’ life.
During the eligibility phase of the trial, Bowers’ defence attorneys argued that he was incapable of telling truth from conspiracy theory, and called expert witnesses who testified that he suffered from “permanent brain damage” as well as delusions and paranoia. The defense argued that Bowers’ view of himself as a saviour of the white race showed he was “blatantly psychotic.”
“The issue in this case is, what happens when your brain is broken?” Michael Burt, one of Bowers’ defence attorneys, said in his closing argument. “What happens when you don’t have the ability to know what is truth and what is not truth?”
The prosecution called its own expert witnesses who took issue with the testimony offered by the defense.
“The defence experts who testified that the defendant had delusions simply mistook very ordinary widespread white separatist beliefs for delusions because they weren’t familiar with them,” Dr Park Dietz, a forensic psychiatrist who has previously consulted on high-profile cases, told the court.
In order to hand down a death penalty, jurors had to unanimously agree on the punishment.
On 2 August, a jury ruled that Bowers would be given the death penalty, marking the first federal execution under Joe Biden’s presidency. Jurors spent 10 hours over two days deliberating before reaching their conclusion.
