2023-08-02 23:14:00
The 12 members of an American jury voted unanimously in favor of capital punishment against Robert Bowersa white trucker who was found guilty of committing 11 murders in the “Tree of Life” synagogue.
On October 27, 2018 and in full celebration of Shabbat, Robert Bowers entered the synagogue with an AR-15 assault rifle and three pistols. Once inside, he opened fire on those present shouting “all Jews must die”, causing the death of eleven people.
Almost five years after the attack and for the first time under the Joe Biden administration, twelve jurors voted unanimously in favor of the death penalty against Robert Bowers. The perpetrator of the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in US history has been sentenced to death by a federal jury.
The sentence, after ten hours of debate between the juries, imposed the death penalty. The other option being debated in the room was life in prison without the possibility of parole as happened in the trial of Sayfullo Saipov, the man convicted in the 2017 terrorist attack that killed eight people in Manhattan.
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According to the latest Pew Center studies published in May 2021, six million Jews live in the United States.
On the other hand, in 2022, the US-based Jewish Anti-Defamation League recorded 3,697 acts of harassment, vandalism and assault, an increase of 36% over the previous year and the highest indicator since it began counting them in 1979.
A pity that means a relief
“In the years that we have spent waiting for this trial to take place, many of us have been stuck,” Rabbi Jeffrey Myers said in a statement replicated by CNN.
“It was challenging to move forward with the looming specter of a murder trial. Now that the trial is almost over and the jury has recommended a death sentence, I hope we can start to heal and move on,” she stressed.
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Jeffrey Myers expressed his thanks “to the law enforcement who put themselves in danger to rescue me, and to the federal prosecutor who appeared in court to defend our right to pray.”
Carole Zawatsky, CEO of The Tree of Life, stated that she hopes the sentence brings “some comfort” to the family members and that it “helps to mitigate their pain, even slightly.” Meanwhile, Alan Hausman, president of the organization, stated that the capital punishment decision “marks a new chapter in the Tree of Life.”
the day of the attack
At around 10 a.m. on October 27, 2018, trucker Robert Bowers entered the Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood armed with three Glock 57 pistols and an AR-15 assault rifle.
Once inside he shouted “all Jews must die” and opened fire. The hail of bullets left eleven dead and several wounded inside the temple. The attacker also fired at the police on the scene and two members of the SWAT squad. He also injured a 61-year-old woman and a 70-year-old man who had to receive medical treatment and were taken to a hospital. In addition to the deceased, he left a balance of seven injured, including five police officers.
Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich said at the time, “It was horrible, one of the worst scenes I’ve ever seen.”
Immediately after the attack, the authorities ordered to reinforce the number of agents in the “particularly sensitive places” as a precautionary measure. They described the crime scene as “very complex” and established the closure of the synagogue for a week.
Who were the victims
The identities of the 11 fatalities were released by Pennsylvania authorities. Among them there are two brothers and a married couple. And their ages range from 54 to 97 years.
The fatalities were Joyce Feinberg (75 years old), Richard Gottfried (65), Rose Mallinger (97), Jerry Rabinowitz (66), Cecil (59) and David Rosenthal (54) both brothers, Bernice Simon (84) and her husband Sylvan Simon (86), Daniel Stein (71), Irving Younger (69) and Melvin Wax (88).
Profile of a murderer
On the morning of the Bowers attacked a refugee aid group Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) via social media, saying he couldn’t sit back and watch “my people get killed.” In the same post he added: “Let your views be screwed, I’m going in.”
The strategy of the lawyers of Robert Bowers, 50, was to accept the guilt of their client to avoid capital punishment. However, the prosecution, supported by several of the families of the victims, did not want to accept the pact and decided to take the process to the end, seeking the death penalty.
Among the 63 criminal charges, in addition to homicide, there is hatred resulting in death or obstruction of religious freedom. According to one of the prosecutors, the murderer had turned a place for prayer into a “hunting ground” that day.
The US Attorney’s Office has already formally charged him with the attack and will seek the death penalty, he announced. He faces 29 criminal charges.
NT / ds
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