US shooter sentenced to death for 2018 synagogue massacre
The 12-member jury unanimously ruled that Robert Bowers should be executed for the 2018 mass shooting in Pittsburgh.
An American truck driver was sentenced to death on Wednesday for massacring 11 Jewish worshippers five years ago in the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in US history.
The 12-member jury unanimously ruled that Robert Bowers should be executed for the October 27, 2018, mass shooting in Pittsburgh.
President Joe Biden’s Justice Department has put a moratorium on federal executions, however, meaning it is not clear whether the sentence will ever be carried out on Bowers.
The 50-year-old was found guilty in June of all 63 charges against him, including hate crimes resulting in murder and attempted murder.
Bowers methodically tracked down his victims at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, shooting many times from close range as he yelled “All Jews must die!”.
The massacre compounded fears of a resurgence of far-right extremists and neo-Nazis across the US. “Hate crimes like this one inflict irreparable pain on individual victims and their loved ones and lead entire communities to question their very belonging,” said Attorney-General Merrick Garland, reacting to the sentence.
“All Americans deserve to live free from the fear of hate-fuelled violence and the Justice Department will hold accountable those who perpetrate such acts.”
Bowers, who had an AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle and three Glock handguns, carried out the slayings during Shabbat – the Jewish day of rest. He had expressed strong anti-Semitic views online. He was arrested at the scene of the attack, which left several police officers and two other worshippers with non-fatal wounds.
Donald Trump, then the US president, called for Bowers to receive the death penalty, which federal prosecutors formally requested in August 2019.
Wednesday’s verdict marks the first time federal prosecutors have sought and won a death sentence during Mr Biden’s presidency. The federal government has not, however, carried out any executions since he came to power in January 2021.
Mr Garland imposed a moratorium on executions in July 2021 after the Trump administration oversaw a record 13 executions in its final months. For Bowers to be executed, the moratorium would need to be lifted or a new president come to power.
Bowers did not dispute that he had shot the congregants but he said he had not been motivated by a hatred of Jewish people. His defence team claimed he suffered from schizophrenia and offered a guilty plea in exchange for life in prison, which was rejected by the prosecution.
Jewish organisations welcomed the verdict. Michael Masters, chief executive of the Secure Community Network, which provides security advice to American Jewish institutions, said the sentence was “another step on the path to justice” that “sends a message to violent extremists, terrorists, and anti-Semites everywhere that the US will not tolerate hate and violence against the Jewish people, nor people of faith.”
The trial came amid a rise in anti-Semitic incidents in the US. The Anti-Defamation League in 2022 registered 3697 acts of harassment, vandalism and assault, a 36 per cent increase over the prior year and the highest tally since record keeping began in 1979.
AFP
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