The gunman in the Pittsburgh Synagogue shooting that resulted in the death of 11 people has been found eligible for the death penalty by a federal jury on Thursday.
The case will be moving on to its final phase next week, and the jury's decision, which many expected, came after two-and-a-half weeks of testimony. This largely focused on the shooter's motivations, identified as Robert Bowers.
Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooter Eligible for Death Penalty
Mental health experts have analyzed brain scans of the defendant and discussed the effects of his troubled childhood. They also recounted interviews with Bowers, where he detailed several months of planning the attack before commencing with the massacre.
The jury will now weigh whether or not the gunman should be sentenced to death for the crime, considered the deadliest antisemitic attack in the history of the United States. Usually, capital trials are split into guilt and penalty phases, as per the New York Times.
The first phase, which focused on the suspect's eligibility for the death penalty, concluded on Thursday. The second one will start on Monday and focus on whether to recommend that the judge impose a death sentence or life in prison.
Bowers' defense team did not present any witnesses in the first phase of the federal trial, and they never disputed the essential facts of the attack. On October 27, 2018, the defendant drove to a synagogue where congregations met for services, Tree of Life, New Light, and Dor Hadash, and walked through the door and started shooting at worshippers.
Authorities later identified the victims as 75-year-old Joyce Fienberg, 65-year-old Richard Gottfried, 97-year-old Rose Mallinger, 71-year-old Daniel Stein, 87-year-old Melvin Wax, 69-year-old Irving Younger, 66-year-old Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz, 84-year-old Bernice Simon, 86-year-old Sylvan Simon, 59-year-old Cecil Rosenthal, and 54-year-old David Rosenthal.
Guilty of 63 Counts
On June 16, the 50-year-old gunman was found guilty of all 63 charges against him for the killings and injuring six other people. Out of all of the counts, 22 were considered to be capital offenses, according to CNN.
The next phase will include testimonies from survivors and the loved ones of the victims who were killed in the shooting. In a statement, a support group for the families, the 10.27 Healing Partnership, said that it had been nearly five years since the tragic incident where 11 people were taken too early.
The group director, Maggie Feinstein, said that they can no longer speak for themselves, so their family members will have to speak for them. She noted that in the next trial phase, the justice system will perform its duty to listen to the voices of the victims' loved ones.
In federal cases in the United States, a unanimous vote is needed to sentence a defendant to death. If jurors cannot reach such a decision, Bowers will be given life in prison without the possibility of release, said Aljazeera.
