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 objected.

Seven of the nine fam­i­lies who lost a rel­a­tive expressed sup­port for the death penal­ty in a 2021 let­ter they sent to Attorney General Merrick Garland. On the oth­er hand, the New Light and Dor Hadash con­gre­ga­tions, includ­ing Rabbi Jonathan Perlman, who was wound­ed in the attack, and Miri Rabinowitz, whose hus­band was killed in the attack, urged Garland to forego the death penal­ty and instead seek a life sen­tence. A let­ter they sent to Garland explains the incom­pat­i­bil­i­ty of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment with Judaism, stat­ing ​“In Jewish tra­di­tion, courts impos­ing cap­i­tal sen­tences have been viewed as blood­thirsty since the days of the sages.” The let­ter also states that a life sen­tence would hon­or the mem­o­ry of vic­tim Jerry Rabinowitz who had strong­ly opposed the death penalty.

Sentiments oppos­ing the death penal­ty have ​“come from indi­vid­u­als of the con­gre­ga­tions, elect­ed offi­cials, and oth­ers who think they know what’s best for the fam­i­lies,” said Diane Rosenthal, sis­ter to vic­tims David and Cecil Rosenthal. Michele Rosenthal added that ​“The sug­ges­tions pub­lished or report­ed that fam­i­ly mem­bers be relieved of the stress of a tri­al or that a cost-ben­e­fit analy­sis dic­tates a plea are offen­sive to our family.”

As part of the selec­tion process for a death qual­i­fied jury, poten­tial jurors were tasked with com­plet­ing a 100-ques­tion, 26-page ques­tion­naire. During voir dire, some jurors who had iden­ti­fied them­selves as sup­port­ers of the death penal­ty on the sur­vey hes­i­tat­ed when asked if they would be will­ing to sen­tence some­one to death. One poten­tial juror stat­ed, ​“This per­son is still a human being. If I’m the per­son who has to make that deci­sion on whether that per­son lives or I want them to be put to death? That’s tough.”