Government rests in final phase of Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial after victim impact statements

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The government rested its case in the final phase of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial on Wednesday after the jury heard emotional victim impact statements. 

Seven people talked to the jury about the shooting's impact, including three surviving victims and four family members left behind.

The jury sat there, listening very closely, some visibly getting choked up. The gunman scribbled on a white legal pad and played around with a pen.

The wife and son of victim Dan Stein took the stand first thing Wednesday to give victim impact statements for the prosecution. Then, Michele Rosenthal, the sister of victims David and Cecil Rosenthal, talked about her two younger brothers.

SWAT Officer Timothy Matson told the courtroom he lives with so much excruciating pain after the gunman shot him multiple times in a classroom. He thought about how he'd never be the same and said he wanted to end his life. But he told the jury a story about a weed that he saw growing in a bucket in his backyard and that turned his life around.

He said he thought, "Wow, that's one tough (expletive) weed. Nobody cared about it, but it keeps growing."

He said, unlike that weed, "I have my teammates, family, friends and strangers. I decided it's time to get to work and push forward."

That weed, now in a potted plant with a "buddy," still sits on his front porch as a daily reminder.

Andrea Wedner summed up the loss she feels as a pain in all the small moments. She talked about her favorite picture of her mother, Rose Mallinger. She's smiling, wearing her favorite color purple at Wedner's son's wedding.

She told the jury, "I'm haunted by what happened to me and by what I saw and what I heard that day."

When Prosecutor Soo Song asked Wedner about the hardest part moving forward, she talked about leaving her mother's body behind, saying, "The hardest part is knowing what happened to her and how she died."

The jury also heard victim impact statements from Dan Leger, who dropped from 145 pounds on the day of the shooting down to 110 pounds in the hospital. He couldn't even speak, and said he wrote to his wife on a piece of paper "let me go" because he thought he'd never recover from his injuries. He made it through though.

Also on Wednesday, the gunman's defense team called an expert witness that walked through the gunman's family tree, filled with mental health issues, mental illness, suicide and what they call a very troubling childhood that impacted who he is today.

After prosecutors rested, the defense called its first witness: Dr. Katherine Porterfield.

For hours, she outlined what she called a disturbing family history of mental illness, saying both of the gunman's parents threatened to kill him as a child.

She called CYS' decision to not get the gunman help a "remarkable outcome to hear two parents threatened to kill the child and for the agency to not follow up."

She said his childhood trauma matters and impacted what he considered normal.

She told the jury his biological father killed himself, his mother told the testifying doctor "I was a terrible mother," his speech regressed as a child to only "high pitched squeals," his mom remarried a man who was admitted to a psych ward, his mom left the second husband who was later convicted of raping a 6-year-old and he lived in five places by the age of 2 with two mentally ill men. 

The defense will continue with testimony Thursday morning, showing the gunman is a product of a failed upbringing and a long line of mentally ill family members, hoping that it will give the jury pause.

Jurors are hearing arguments from both sides and then will decide whether the convicted gunman Robert Bowers receives life in prison or if he will be sentenced to death. 

Last month, the gunman was found guilty of all 63 federal charges in the attack when he shot and killed 11 worshippers from three different congregations, Tree of Life, Dor Hadash and New Light on Oct. 27, 2018. It was the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.  

The three synagogue congregations are divided on whether the death penalty should be imposed as are some of the victims' families. But Jewish leaders said all are thankful for the jury's decision and look forward to testifying about the impact of the attack in the final sentencing phase of the trial.     

Recapping victim impact statements

The brother-in-law of Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz took the stand on Tuesday, stating how his brother-in-law just wanted to help people, which is why he got into family medicine, saying that he would even make house calls after hours. 

He added that many people in the family have changed their professions since the deadly shooting took place to do things to more directly help people, like Dr. Rabinowitz did. 

Michelle Weiss, the daughter of the slain couple Sylvan and Bernice Simon, said she spoke with her mother every day and was asked what life is like without her. 

"I lost my best friend, my confidant, lost my most important people in my life in one day," she said. "It's very hard for me to go on. We don't have holidays anymore, nothing is the same." 

Anthony Feinberg, the son of Joyce Feinberg, called his mother "the central cog" in his family who has left such a void.

In earlier testimony, Margaret Durachko, the wife of Richard Gottfried, was the first of more than 20 family members to take the stand during this phase of the trial and testified of how her whole life was turned upside down following the mass shooting at the synagogue.

Diane Rosenthal, the sister of Cecil and David Rosenthal, testified that when they were diagnosed early with fragile X syndrome, her parents insisted they be raised at home with her and her sister Michelle rather than be put in an institution. The boys, she said, were a gift with an infectious joy for life which they spread throughout the neighborhood. 

Testifying on videotape, Cecil and David Rosenthal's mother said she thanks God for her sons and couldn't be more proud to be their mother but now they are gone. 

Support is available for those in need during the trial

If you or someone you know is experiencing mental health effects from the trial, go to 1027healingpartnership.org to find help resources. As always, call 911 to report threats. 

Phone: 412-697-3534
Email: info@1027HealingPartnership.org
Website: 1027healingpartnership.org

More resources can be found here.

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