Impact statements take emotional toll in final phase of Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Testimony resumed Tuesday at the federal courthouse in the final phase of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial.
Family members of the victims took the stand on Monday, talking about the immeasurable loss they've suffered.
Victim impact statements are part of this phase, as the prosecution tries to highlight Robert Bowers' hate for Jews and his lack of remorse.
The defense plans to highlight his troubled childhood and mental disorders. The jury will soon decide whether he should face life in prison or be sentenced to death.
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.
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.
Family members take the stand
On Tuesday, the prosecution began calling family members to testify about the void left behind following the mass shooting at the synagogue.
It's a hole that can never be filled — that was the message from family members once they took the stand. Family members of the 11 victims testified to their horror and their loss.
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.
"Where do I start?" She began.
"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."
In asking the jury to impose the death penalty on Bowers, the prosecution is calling family member after family member to testify about the impact his murderous rampage has wrought upon their lives.
Weiss's brother, Michael Simon, called their parents a "remarkable couple" and said that "they should be the poster people for being married and how you should treat each other."
Now that they're gone, he added, "You have a void and it never really can be filled, it's like you have a hole in your heart that can't be filled."
Over the next two days, the family members and friends of all the 11 victims will testify to their loss and how they received the horrific news of their murders.
Anthony Feinberg, the son of Joyce Feinberg, was in Israel when his daughter heard about the shooting.
"She came in and asked was 'Bubble' at shul, that's when I knew," he recalled.
Feinberg, who would travel 36 hours back to Pittsburgh, called his mother "the central cog" in his family who has left such a void. He was asked not only about his loss but the loss in his children's lives.
"Just like she meant everything to our kids, our kids are devastated," he said. "We always talk about her, we try to reference the good things, we try to bring up all those positive things because we can't fill the hole."
The family of beloved family doctor Jerry Rabinowitz testified to his immeasurable loss.
When the New Jersey-born Rabinowitz graduated with honors from the prestigious University of Pennsylvania Medical School, he could have pursued any glamorous specialty in medicine. But he came to Pittsburgh to be a family doctor.
"He wanted to be a doc," his brother-in-law Daniel Kramer said Tuesday testified. "He wanted to take care of people. He wanted to take care of families."
In the following decades, Kramer said Rabinowitz had a love affair with Pittsburgh and became a beloved figure throughout the city, working long days giving personal attention to each of his patients.
"He'd pack up his little doctor bag and go out make house calls for his elderly people," Kramer said. "One woman would make Jerry tea, and he'd hold her hand and just talk. That's the kind of doctor he was."
When the AIDS epidemic hit in the early 1980s, most doctors were fearful of treating the infected patients, but Kramer said: "Jerry took them in. Jerry took care of them. At the end of the visits, he would hug them at a time when many people considered them untouchable."
In the social welfare-minded Dor Hadash Congregation, Rabinowitz and his wife, Miri, served lunches in soup kitchens and worked to resettle immigrants to Pittsburgh. At the time he was murdered by Bowers, Rabinowitz had planned to retire and to travel with Miri to Paris, but also go to Ethiopia to help a friend run a medical clinic. He was all in, Kramer said, helping others was a source of joy.
But rather than grieve the immeasurable loss, Kramer said he has embraced the Jewish saying "May his memory be a blessing." Talking about a picture of Rabinowitz, he said "He continues to be a blessing to all of us. He has changed our lives. Some of us have changed our professions to do things to more directly help people."
Recapping victim impact statements
Margaret Durachko, the wife of Richard Gottfried, was the first of more than 20 family members expected to testify during the sentencing phase of the trial.
"My life was turned upside down," she said. "He was my whole family. We never had children so he was my whole family, and it was wiped out in a second."
Taking the stand, 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.
"A big part of me died on Oct. 27, 2018. My boys were taken from me. I woke up with two loving sons and went to bed with only memories," she said.
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.
