Jury selection began Monday in the federal death penalty trial of a truck driver accused of shooting to death 11 Jewish worshippers at a synagogue in the eastern U.S. city of Pittsburgh — the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.
Robert G. Bowers, who is from the Pittsburgh suburb of Baldwin, faces 63 counts in the October 27, 2018, attack at the Tree of Life synagogue, where members of three Jewish congregations were holding Sabbath activities. The charges include 11 counts of obstruction of free exercise of religion resulting in death and 11 counts of hate crimes resulting in death.
Bowers, 50, could be sentenced to death if convicted. He offered to plead guilty in return for a life sentence, but federal prosecutors turned him down even though Joe Biden pledged while campaigning for president three years ago that, if elected, he would work to end the federal death penalty. Bowers' lawyers also recently said he has schizophrenia and structural and functional brain impairments.
It was quiet outside the courthouse in downtown Pittsburgh for the start of the trial. U.S. District Judge Robert Colville began proceedings by thanking prospective jurors for their service, summarizing the case and describing the trial's phases. Bowers sat with his attorneys and looked at documents as the judge spoke.
The courtroom gallery was largely empty, though a small group of relatives of those who were killed and at least one survivor of the attack were present.
Prosecutors, defense attorneys and the judge spent about 30 minutes questioning each of the first four prospective jurors to be called. Most questions revolved around whether the candidates would be willing to impose the death sentence and, if so, whether they would be open to considering mitigating evidence, including about the defendant's mental state or childhood.
All four said they would be able to consider a sentence of death or life in prison.
One of them came out firmly in support of capital punishment, saying "there needs to be repercussions." Another said a house of worship "should have been a safe place" and that she couldn't imagine a worse crime. But she also said that after sitting behind Bowers during a previous hearing, she realized "he's a person, not a monster."
The court plans to select 12 jurors and six alternates.
Once a jury is seated, prosecutors are expected to tell jurors about incriminatory statements Bowers allegedly made to investigators, an online trail of antisemitic statements that they say shows the attack was motivated by religious hatred, and the guns recovered from him at the crime scene where police shot Bowers three times before he surrendered.
The families of those killed were divided over whether the government should pursue the death penalty, but most were in favor.
In addition to killing 11 people, Bowers also injured seven others, including five police officers who responded to the scene, investigators said.
In a filing earlier this month, prosecutors said Bowers "harbored deep, murderous animosity towards all Jewish people." They said he also expressed hatred for HIAS, a nonprofit humanitarian group founded as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society that helps refugees and asylum seekers.
Prosecutors wrote in a court filing that Bowers had nearly 400 followers on his Gab social media account "to whom he promoted his antisemitic views and calls to violence against Jews."
Colville, who was nominated to the court by President Donald Trump more than three years ago, previously spent nearly two decades as a county judge in Pittsburgh.
The death penalty trial is proceeding three years after Biden said during his 2020 campaign that he would work to end capital punishment at the federal level and in states that still use it. His attorney general, Merrick Garland, has temporarily paused executions to review policies and procedures, but federal prosecutors continue to work to uphold death sentences that have been issued and, in some cases, to pursue new death sentences at trial.
