US synagogue gunman sentenced to die
The man who killed 11 congregants at a Pittsburgh synagogue has been formally sentenced to death after a jury determined that capital punishment was appropriate for the perpetrator of the deadliest attack on Jews in US history.
Howard Fienberg speaks to the media surrounded by victims and families of victims following the sentencing of Robert Bowers at the Jewish Community Centre in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Aug 2, 2023. Bowers was sentenced to death for killing 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018.
US District Judge Robert Colville ordered death by lethal injection for Robert Bowers, a 50-year-old truck driver whose antisemitism led him to shoot his way into a place of worship and target people for practising their faith.
Grieving families confronted Bowers in court before Colville pronounced the sentence, describing the pain and suffering he had inflicted and calling him evil and cowardly. Bowers, who chose not to speak, spent the entire hearing shuffling through papers and writing and refused to look those he victimised in the eye.
Several survivors spoke of lingering traumas — sleeplessness, fear of crowds and loud noises, and physical and cognitive struggles triggered by the 2018 massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue. But survivors and family members, several wearing yarmulkes signifying Jewish observance, also emphasised their resilience in practising the Judaism that the defendant hated.
Alan Mallinger, son of 97-year-old Rose Mallinger, the attack’s oldest victim, told Bowers the synagogue would be rebuilt.
“We continue to thrive as Jewish people … stronger than ever,” he declared.
Bowers ranted about Jews online before carrying out the attack at Tree of Life, in the heart of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community, on October 27, 2018. He killed members of the Dor Hadash, New Light and Tree of Life congregations, which shared the synagogue building. Bowers told police at the scene that “all these Jews must die” and has since expressed pride in the killings.
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 of the largest and most historic Jewish communities in the nation so he could “maxi mise 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.
The jury rejected defence claims that Bowers has schizophrenia and that his delusions about Jewish people spurred the attack.
It was the first federal death sentence imposed during the presidency of Joe Biden, who pledged during his 2020 campaign to end capital punishment. Biden’s Justice Department has placed a moratorium on federal executions and has declined to authorise the death penalty in hundreds of new cases where it could apply. 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.
An appeal is expected, meaning that Bowers will likely spend years on federal death row even if the Justice Department lifts the moratorium on executions.
Tree of Life Rabbi Jeffrey Myers — speaking as a survivor and the “pastor of a wounded congregation” — said in court that many members remain hesitant to return to worship because of trauma or fear. “My beloved synagogue is the 12th victim,” he said.
