Jury convicts man of murder of 11 in Pittsburgh Synagogue

The gunman who killed 11 worshipers at a Pittsburgh synagogue in October 2018 was found guilty on Friday of dozens of federal hate crimes and civil rights violations, closing the first phase of a trial that could eventually end in a death sentence.

After deliberating five hours over two days, the jury found the shooter, Robert Bowers, guilty of 63 federal charges, including 11 counts of obstruction of the free exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death.

Now the trial will focus on the issue of punishment. The jury will hear arguments over whether Mr Bowers, 50, is eligible to be sentenced to death for these crimes. If the jurors decide that he is, they will decide whether the death penalty should be imposed. These next two phases of the trial are expected to last about a month and a half.

There was little doubt about the outcome of this first phase. Mr. Bowers’ defense team has not called any witnesses. His lawyers have not disputed that he planned and carried out the massacre, which is considered the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in US history.

The defense’s primary goal, as evidenced by pre-trial court documents, was to avoid a death sentence. Lawyers for Mr Bowers made offers to plead guilty on all counts in exchange for life in prison without the possibility of parole, but the Justice Department rejected those offers.

In the first stage of the trial, defense attorneys questioned Mr. Bowers’ motives and intentions, and whether the evidence presented by the government met the elements of some federal charges. They also suggested that his state of mind could be an important part of their arguments in the penalty phase.

“How and why did this man, who lived a lonely and law-abiding life until October 27, 2018, wreak the havoc and destruction he wreaked?” Elisa Long, a federal public defender representing Mr. Bowers, said in her closing argument.

The verdict on Friday came after three weeks of testimony, including chilling accounts of worshipers surviving the mass shooting while huddled in closets or lying near death in a hallway, as Mr. Bowers haunted the Tree of Life synagogue with three handguns and a semi-automatic rifle. Three congregations gathered for services in the building that morning: Tree of Life, New Light, and Dor Hadash. Members of each were among those killed or injured by Mr. Bowers.

“We were filled with fear,” said Andrea Wedner, who said she lay on the floor of a chapel, her right arm shattered by bullets, as she tried to comfort her dying 97-year-old mother. “It’s indescribable.”

The 60 witnesses called by the prosecution included police officers who burst into the synagogue, some of whom were wounded in gunfights with Mr. Bowers; businessmen who sold Mr. Bowers his gun holsters; the general manager of Gab.com, the social media site where Mr. Bowers posted extensively about his hatred of Jews and immigrants; and the president of a Jewish organization that helps resettle refugees — a mission that Mr. Bowers says prompted him to attack the synagogue.

The testimonials were often harrowing. Recordings of 911 calls played, filling the courtroom with the sounds of people being shot. Prosecutors showed graphic photos of the aftermath. Pathologists described autopsies in clinical detail: a gunshot wound so severe they could “see into space where the brain is”; a woman killed by a shot that “more or less cut the heart in half.”

Experts testified about the barrage of anti-Semitic posts that Mr. Bowers posted on Gab.com celebrating the Holocaust and calling for the extermination of the Jews.

“The message the defendant wanted to tell the world about himself was clear and unequivocal: He is filled with hatred of Jews,” Mary Hahn, a federal prosecutor, said in her closing argument.

Other witnesses were called to describe the teachings of the Jewish faith and explain how the congregations had changed after the attack.

“We don’t have the same attendance numbers,” says Stephen Weiss, longtime Tree of Life ritual director. It has been more difficult to reach the required minyan, or quorum, of 10 people to recite certain prayers. Those members who could always be counted on to show up for services on time, Mr. Weiss said, “They’ve been killed.”

For much of this testimony, the defense team sat still and asked a few questions of some of the prosecution’s expert witnesses, but allowed the proceedings to proceed largely on the government’s terms. The defense attorneys indicated at various points that their case would mostly come in the next stages of the trial, when the jury would make decisions on the death penalty.