The defense argued that schizophrenia and brain abnormalities made Bowers more susceptible to being influenced by the extremist content he found online. They also claimed Bowers had severe, untreated mental illness, saying he killed out of a delusional belief that Jews were helping to cause a genocide of white people. They presented evidence of a horrific childhood marked by trauma and neglect. “Many of our members prefer that the shooter spend the rest of his life in prison, questioning whether we should seek vengeance or revenge against him or whether his death would ‘make up’ for the lost lives,” according to a statement from Stephen Cohen and Barbara Caplan, co-presidents of New Light Congregation, which lost three members in the attack.īut the congregation as a whole, they wrote, “accepts the jury’s decision and believes that, as a society, we need to take a stand that this act requires the ultimate penalty under the law.”īowers’ lawyers never contested his guilt, focusing their efforts on trying to save his life. “While today’s unanimous decision by a federal jury in Pittsburgh is an important act of accountability, it will never bring back the eleven people who lost their lives or heal the grief and trauma of their loved ones,” said White House principal deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton, adding that Biden was “praying for the victims’ families, and for all those in the broader community who have been so deeply impacted by this tragedy.”Īlmost all of the victims’ families said Bowers should die for his crimes. But federal prosecutors said death was the appropriate punishment for Bowers, citing the vulnerability of his mainly elderly victims and his hate-based targeting of a religious community. Biden’s Justice Department has placed a moratorium on federal executions and has declined to authorize the death penalty in hundreds of new cases where it could apply. It was the first federal death sentence imposed during the presidency of Joe Biden, who pledged during his 2020 campaign to end capital punishment.
#Have a nice death life trial
He told a psychiatrist that he thought the trial was helping to spread his antisemitic message. Through it all, Bowers showed little reaction to the proceeding that would decide his fate - typically looking down at papers or screens at the defense table - though he could be seen conversing at length with his legal team during breaks. Survivors testified about their own lasting pain, both physical and emotional. In the sentencing phase, grieving family members told the jury about the lives that Bowers took - elderly people and intellectually disabled brothers among them - and the unrelenting pain of their loss. The verdict came after a lengthy trial in which jurors heard in chilling detail how Bowers reloaded at least twice, stepped over the bloodied bodies of his victims to look for more people to shoot, and surrendered only when he ran out of ammunition.
so that he could “maximize the devastation, amplify the harm of his crimes, and instill fear within the local, national, and international Jewish communities.” They also found that Bowers lacked remorse. Jurors were unanimous in finding that Bowers’ attack was motivated by his hatred of Jews, and that he chose Tree of Life for its location in one the largest and most historic Jewish communities in the U.S.
A judge will formally impose the sentence Thursday. He showed little reaction as the sentence was announced, briefly acknowledging his legal team and family as he was led from the courtroom. The same federal jury that convicted the 50-year-old Bowers on 63 criminal counts recommended that he be put to death for an attack whose impacts continue to reverberate nearly five years later.
#Have a nice death life driver
Bowers, a truck driver from suburban Baldwin, also wounded two worshippers and five responding police officers. Robert Bowers spewed hatred of Jews and espoused white supremacist beliefs online before methodically planning and carrying out the 2018 massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue, where members of three congregations had gathered for Sabbath worship and study.
PITTSBURGH (AP) - The gunman who stormed a synagogue in the heart of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community and killed 11 worshippers will be sentenced to death for perpetrating the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S.
0 kommentar(er)
