Jury to deliberate death penalty or life sentence for Pittsburgh synagogue shooter on Tuesday
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The jury will begin to deliberate whether the Pittsburgh synagogue gunman will be sentenced to death or life in prison on Tuesday morning.
The defense and prosecution rested their cases on Monday and completed summations.
The defense rested Monday morning after more than a week of calling witnesses, trying to show why the life of convicted gunman Robert Bowers should be spared. The last witness, Patricia Fine, the aunt of the convicted gunman, wrapped up her testimony first thing Monday morning.
In a last effort to spare him the death penalty, she delivered emotional testimony about her nephew's troubled life, saying she always believed he would kill himself before hurting anyone else.
"No, he was not that type of person," Patricia Fine said. "I was so certain he would commit suicide. I still find it hard to believe he would take other people's lives."
Over two days, Fine detailed his history of abuse at the hands of his mother and others which she said resulted in suicide attempts and stretches in institutions and hospitals. She described her nephew as a gentle, withdrawn person whom she said "watched life more than lived life." She believed him to be mentally ill.
Throughout her testimony, the gunman did not look up and as he has throughout the trial continued to appear busy looking through papers -- even as she tearfully read one of her more than 100 letters she has written to him since the massacre at the synagogue.
"I hope you know how much you are loved. I'm so sorry the adults in your life were not there for you. I wished I would have listened more, understood more or at least let you know that you are loved more. I feel that all of the adults around you failed you in so many ways," she said.
After her testimony, the defense rested their case and Judge Robert Colville instructed the jury about considering so-called mitigating factors against the death penalty brought up by the defense, including physical and verbal abuse from his mother, father and stepfather, his suicide attempts, stays in institutions and his diagnosis from some as being schizophrenic.
The government has maintained the gunman is an intelligent, functioning person driven by ethnic hate who knowingly and willingly planned and executed the attack on vulnerable victims.
But the judge said each juror must make a "unique, individualized and reasoned moral judgment" in considering these things. "It's a decision the law leaves entirely up to you," he said. "Each juror is to individually decide what weight or value is given to each factor."
In asking the jury to impose the death penalty, the prosecution said the gunman was driven by ethnic hate when he knowingly and willingly murdered 11 innocent and defenseless victims and shot five others, including three police officers.
"The defendant chose his victims because they were Jewish," U.S. Attorney Eric Olshan told the jury in his summation. "To him, the only good Jew was a dead Jew. A Jew is a Jew is a Jew. That's it. Do not be numb to it. Put it on the scale."
Throughout the trial, the defense presented mental health experts testifying that Bowers was schizophrenic and in the throes of delusional beliefs in wild conspiracy theories when he went on his murderous rampage.
But Olshan told the jury Bowers carefully planned and executed the attack on the mostly elderly victims whom Olshan said walked into services that morning and never walked out. He showed pictures of their blood-soaked and disfigured corpses, played a 911 call tape of their screams and recalled the emotional testimony of their family members.
"You heard about who they were. What they meant to the people who loved them. You heard about the impact of their loss," he said, and quoted Anthony Feinberg who lost his mother Joyce as saying: "You can't fill the hole."
Instead of remorse, Olshan said Bowers is proud of his actions -- even jokes about those 11 victims. "He took his Jewish hatred and his AR-15 and turned them into what he called his Yiddish dozen." This is hate, Olshan said, not schizophrenia.
"It doesn't make you schizophrenic to be happy about what you did. This defendant just happens to be white supremacist like many other white supremacists. They're also not delusional, they're just white supremacists."
In asking the jury to give Bowers life in prison without the possibility of release, defense attorney Judy Clarke reminded the jury they agreed to consider more than the horror of the crime but give "meaningful consideration" to other factors, including his mental health and painful childhood.
She once again went through a family history of mental illness and abusive parents, alleged suicide attempts and institutionalizations which she said led to schizophrenia and delusions. She noted an FBI report that the gunman kept a shotgun by his door fearing that UN troops might be coming for him.
"We're not saying that led Robert Bowers to the Tree of Life that day but this had something to with it," she said.
Saying there was no justification for the massacre, Clarke said: "What happened cannot be undone. We can't rewind the clock, make this never happen. All we can do is make the right decision going forward and that is life."
Last month, Bowers 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.
Earlier this month, the jury determined the convicted gunman is eligible to face the death penalty.
However, 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 the defense's arguments
In their final push in the penalty phase of the trial, the defense spent their time trying to convince the jury that the convicted gunman should be spared the death penalty because of mental illness.
Witnesses for the defense last week testified that if the convicted gunman is sentenced to life in prison, it would still be considered a harsh punishment.
Prison expert Maureen Baird testified if sentenced to life without the possibility of a release, Bowers would likely be sent to the federal supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. It is a facility designed to house inmates who are too highly profiled or present too great a security risk for even a maximum security prison.
In a surprise motion filing last week, the defense requested the remains of the convicted gunman's father to be exhumed for DNA testing. The request, which was ultimately denied by Judge Robert Colville, came following the prosecution's raising of doubts that Randall Bowers is the biological father of Robert Bowers.
In the final sentencing phase of the trial, the defense has presented mental health experts who have testified the gunman genetically inherited the family's history of schizophrenia and should not be sentenced to execution.
Dr. Katherine Porterfield, an expert who testified about mental health issues, was on the stand last week, detailing the convicted gunman's troubled childhood.
Recapping victim impact statements
Prior to the defense beginning to call witnesses, the prosecution called family members of the victims to the stand to give victim impact statements. The wife and son of victim Dan Stein took the stand; and then, Michele Rosenthal, the sister of victims David and Cecil Rosenthal, talked about her two younger brothers.
Andrea Wedner summed up the loss she feels as a pain in all the small moments when talking about her mother, Rose Mallinger. "I'm haunted by what happened to me and by what I saw and what I heard that day," she told the jury.
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.
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.
