The jury in the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial will begin deliberations Tuesday morning. It will decide whether defendant Robert Bowers should receive the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of release.
In June, the same jurors found Bowers guilty of killing 11 Jewish worshipers from three congregations at the Tree of Life synagogue in 2018. He was charged on 63 federal counts, including 11 counts of a hate crime that resulted in death; 22 of those counts carry the possibility of the death penalty.
The jury subsequently deemed Bowers eligible for the death penalty last month.
Jurors will weigh the aggravating factors that make the crime sufficient to warrant the death penalty and the mitigating factors that defense lawyers argue should lessen the severity of the punishment.
During closing arguments Monday, prosecutors presented aggravating factors, including the fact that Bowers was motivated by antisemitic and white supremacist beliefs, he purposefully targeted Jewish people in a place of worship, and many of the victims were vulnerable.
Lawyers for the defense said Bowers should spend life in prison. They pointed to his difficult childhood, which included housing and food insecurity, neglectful caregivers, and multiple attempts to take his own life before the age of 17.
U.S. District Judge Robert Colville reminded jurors on Monday that they are never required to vote for a death sentence. Rather, they must weigh the competing aggravating and mitigating factors according to their own “uniquely individual moral judgment,” he said.
If the jury unanimously finds that the aggravating factors outweigh the mitigating factors on just one of the capital counts, Bowers would be sentenced to death.
