Entries tagged with “Tree of Life Synagogue”
Policy Issues
Victims' Families
,Religion
,Federal Death Penalty
,Jul 08, 2021
Jewish Congregation Renews Request for Department of Justice to Drop Death Penalty in Tree of Life Synagogue Killings
A Jewish congregation whose members were among the eleven people killed by a white supremacist in an attack on Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in October 2018 has renewed its request for the Department of Justice to drop the death penalty against the accused…
State & Federal Info
Federal Death Penalty
,Jul 13, 2023
Jury Finds Defendant Eligible for Federal Death Penalty in Pittsburgh Synagogue Trial
The jury that found Richard Bowers guilty of all 63 federal charges he faces in connection with the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting found him eligible for the death penalty on July 13, 2023. Jurors deliberated for about two hours before finding that the prosecution had met its burden by proving that Mr. Bowers had the necessary intent to commit the crime and that the crime had specific aggravating factors for eligibility. These factors included the vulnerability of several of the victims.
Policy Issues
Victims' Families
,Religion
,Federal Death Penalty
,Oct 27, 2021
Three Years After Attack on Synagogue, Status of Trials in Tree of Life Killings Remains Unclear
Three years after the religiously-motivated attack on Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, the status of the state and federal prosecutions in the case remains unsettled. As the three Jewish congregations who worship at the synagogue marked the anniversary of the October 27, 2018 attack that took the lives of eleven congregants, no trial date is in sight and the prospect of a capital trial that many in the tightly-knit community oppose continues to delay…
Policy Issues
Victims' Families
,Religion
,New Voices
,Federal Death Penalty
,May 30, 2023
Victims’ Families are Divided Over Death Penalty as Bowers Trial Begins
On May 25, 2023, 12 death-qualified jurors and six alternates were selected in the federal capital trial of Robert Bowers, who is charged with killing 11 worshippers at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018. Prosecutors struck all the Black, Hispanic, and Jewish venire members. As testimony begins on May 30, some victims’ family members have expressed support for capital punishment, while others have…