Gunman in Pittsburgh synagogue massacre harbored 'malice and hate' for Jews, prosecutor says
Source: Associated Press
Gunman in Pittsburgh synagogue massacre harbored ‘malice and hate’ for Jews, prosecutor says
By PETER SMITH
May 30, 2023
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Prosecutors on Tuesday described how a heavily armed suspect barged into a Pittsburgh synagogue and shot every worshipper he could find in the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.
Robert Bowers’ federal trial got underway more than four years after the shooting deaths of 11 worshippers at the Tree of Life synagogue.
Twelve jurors and six alternates — chosen Thursday after more than 200 candidates were questioned over a month — are hearing the case. They include 11 women and seven men.
“The depths of the defendant’s malice and hate can only be proven in the broken bodies” of the victims and “his hateful words,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Soo C. Song said during her opening statement.
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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/pittsburgh-tree-life-synagogue-shooting-federal-trial-51a2f8a53f9285e8957b4e6a8b05818a
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Bowers' attorneys have been angling for getting the death sentence off the table. He has been willing to plead guilty, forego the trial altogether, if he can get a life sentence without parole. It's still capital punishment - but no gas chamber.
The prosecutors won't take the death penalty off the table, and the negotiations have been going on for over 3 years. Now it's finally going to trial here in Pittsburgh, and Bowers has literally no hope of beating this conviction.
I haven't posted anything about it on DU because the only question will be whether Bowers gets the gas chamber or life without parole.
