Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooter’s Death Penalty Trial Begins

Facts

• On Monday, jurors heard opening arguments in federal court about whether the gunman who killed 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018 should receive the death penalty.¹
• Last week, Robert Bowers was convicted of all 63 counts he'd been charged with — including hate crimes — for carrying out the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in US history.²
• One of the defense attorneys, arguing for his client to be spared the death penalty, said Bowers has psychotic symptoms consistent with schizophrenia, which have impaired his brain and caused him to have “delusional beliefs.”³
• The defense's legal team also includes Judy Clarke, a high-profile and immensely experienced capital defense lawyer, who in her opening statements described her client as a socially awkward individual whose family said 'was more likely to commit suicide than harm others.'⁴
• However, prosecutor Troy Rivetti, who intends to refute any mental-health defense, said Bowers “clearly intended to kill everyone he could find” at the synagogue on the day of the attack.⁵
• The trial's sentencing phase could take up to six weeks; if jurors decide against the death penalty, Bowers will automatically be sentenced to life in prison without parole.⁶

Sources: ¹FOX News, ²ITN, ³CNN, ⁴New York Times, ⁵Al Jazeera and ⁶Washington Post.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by The Forward. Bowers committed the ultimate evil when he attacked the Pittsburgh synagogue — his punishment should be nothing less than the death penalty. There are no ethical or religious reasons to spare the perpetrator's life after such a terrible act.
• Narrative B, as provided by Jerusalem Post. The death penalty is ineffective and inhumane. Instead of killing Bowers, the government has a responsibility to educate and rehabilitate him. Dialogue is the better and more just course of action — antisemitism should be tackled with education.

Predictions