Federal jurors ruled on Wednesday that the gunman who started the fire on a Pittsburgh synagogue, killing eleven people and wounding seven more, will receive the capital penalty.
The tragedy occurred about five years ago and was the worst antisemitic incident in American history.
Robert Bowers, the gunman, had expressed his hate of immigrants and Jews on social media for months prior to the attack. On October 27, 2018, armed with an AR-15 and other weapons, he stormed into the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill area and only gave up when he ran out of ammunition.
Judge Robert Colville of the U.S. District Court will now receive the jury’s judgment and will almost certainly execute the gunman. The official punishment is anticipated to be given by the judge on Thursday morning.
If the jury hadn’t agreed to execute the gunman, he would have been given a life sentence without the chance of release.
Even with the sentencing, the Department of Justice’s moratorium on the death penalty may mean years before an execution occurs.
The federal system sees comparatively few executions. Since 1927, there have only been 50 executions; the most recent was on January 16, 2021, when quadruple murderer Dustin John Higgs passed away at the maximum security federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, via lethal injection.
The same jury that recommended Bowers’ execution last month also found the gunman guilty on 63 charges related to the attack. Additionally, the panel had decided that he qualified for the death punishment.
The prosecution cited the gunman’s longstanding history of antisemitism as evidence during the protracted trial, arguing that he had the necessary intent to kill, while the defense made an unsuccessful attempt to claim that the massacre was the result of mental illness and delusional beliefs.
The victims’ families also stood up to discuss how the gunman’s rampage affected their lives in heartfelt remarks.
Richard Gottfried, 65; Jerry Rabinowitz, 66; Joyce Fienberg, 75; Cecil Rosenthal, 59; Sylvan Simon, 86; Daniel Stein, 71; David Rosenthal, 54; Irving Younger, 69; Bernice Simon, 84; and Melvin Wax, 87 were the victims of Bower’s attack.