Truck driver found guilty of deadliest attack on Jews in US history

This undated Pennsylvania Department of Transportation photo shows Robert Bowers. 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, Friday, June 16, 2023. (Pennsylvania Department of Transportation via AP, File)

A truck driver who expressed hatred of Jews has been convicted of barging into a Pittsburgh synagogue and shooting everyone he could find, killing 11 congregants in an act of anti-jewish terror for which he could be sentenced to die.

The guilty verdict on Friday was a foregone conclusion after Robert Bowers’ own lawyers conceded at the trial’s outset that he attacked and killed worshippers at the Tree of Life synagogue on October 27, 2018, in the deadliest attack on Jews in United States' history.

Jurors must now decide whether the 50-year-old should be sent to death row or sentenced to life in prison without parole as the federal trial shifts to a penalty phase expected to last several weeks.

Bowers was convicted of all 63 criminal counts he faced, including hate crimes resulting in death and obstruction of the free exercise of religion resulting in death.

His attorneys had offered a guilty plea in return for a life sentence, but prosecutors refused, opting instead to take the case to trial and pursue the death penalty. Most of the victims’ families expressed support for the decision.

Bowers, who was armed with an AR-15 rifle and other weapons, also shot and wounded seven, including five responding police officers.

Deep-seated animosity

In the trial, prosecutors presented evidence of Bowers' deep-seated animosity toward Jews and immigrants.

Over 11 days of testimony, jurors learned that Bowers had extensively posted, shared or liked anti-jewish 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.

His attorneys did not mount a defence at the guilt stage of the trial, signalling they will focus their efforts on trying to save his life. They plan to introduce evidence that Bowers has schizophrenia, epilepsy and brain impairments.

Defence lawyer 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 US.

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.

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Source: TRT