Robert Bowers: Prosecutors Say Suspected Tree Of Life Gunman Can Get Fair Trial In Pittsburgh
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Prosecutors seeking the death penalty for Robert Bowers say he can receive a fair trial in the Pittsburgh area, calling his attempts to move to the trial elsewhere unwarranted.
Defense attorneys for the accused Tree of Life shooter previously argued that Pittsburgh-area jurors are prejudiced against him because of media coverage and the results of a telephone survey.
Prosecutors say Bowers fails to meet the legal standard to "preemptively disqualify all potential jurors" in the 13 counties that make up the Pittsburgh division.
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Prosecutors added that hardly anyone responded to the defense's telephone survey, saying of the more than 25,000 call attempts made in the Pittsburgh area, fewer than 2 percent of the people contacted completed the survey.
Bowers is accused of killing 11 Jewish congregants as they prayed at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood in 2018. It was the deadliest anti-Semitism attack in US history.