White Man Shoots Up Synagogue of Satan in Pittsburg

[Librarian]

United States v. Bowers, Criminal No. 18-292

United States v. Bowers, Criminal No. 18-292


https://casetext.com/case/united-states-v-bowers-83
http://christian-identity.net/forum/...1938#post21938
http://whitenationalist.org/forum/sh...938#post219238

United States v. Bowers, Criminal No. 18-292 | Oct 29, 2020 —

Opinion
Criminal No. 18-292

10-29-2020

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. ROBERT BOWERS, Defendant.

AMBROSE, Senior District Judge

OPINION AND ORDER OF COURT SYNOPSIS

On January 29, 2019, the Government filed a superseding indictment charging Defendant, in part, with Obstruction of Free Exercise of Religious Beliefs Resulting in Death in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 247(a)(2) and 247(d)(1) (Counts 1-11) and Use and Discharge of a Firearm to Commit Murder During and in Relation to a Crime of Violence and Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 924(c)(1)(A)(i), 924(c)(1)(A)(ii), 924(c)(1)(A)(iii), and 924(j)(1) (Counts 23-33). [ECF No. 44].

On August 26, 2019, the Government filed a Notice of Intent to Seek the Death Penalty as to these counts ("Notice of Intent"). [ECF No. 86]. The Notice of Intent enumerates the statutory gateway factors and statutory and non-statutory aggravating factors that the Government proposes to prove as justifying a sentence of death. Id.

Defendant has filed a Challenge to the Notice of Intent and Memorandum of Support seeking to strike mental state eligibility and aggravating factors pursuant to Article I and the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution, 18 U.S.C. §§ 3592, et seq., and case law. [ECF No. 241].

The Government filed a Response in Opposition and Defendant filed a Reply. [ECF Nos. 250, 253]. For the reasons set forth below, the Challenge is denied.

Opinion Text: https://casetext.com/case/united-states-v-bowers-83

[Librarian]

Defense in Tree of Life case asks whether government knew about Bowers' online rhetoric prior to shooting

Defense in Tree of Life case asks whether government knew about Bowers' online rhetoric prior to shooting

PAULA REED WARD | Thursday, April 1, 2021 11:31 a.m.


https://triblive.com/local/defense-i...r-to-shooting/
http://christian-identity.net/forum/...2668#post22668
http://whitenationalist.org/forum/sh...2668#post22668

Defense attorneys for the man charged with the Tree of Life killings are asking federal prosecutors to produce any evidence that the government monitored their client’s anti-Semitic online activity in the months leading up to the 2018 mass shooting.

In a motion filed Tuesday, lawyers for Robert Bowers wrote that the evidence must be turned over to them under discovery rules.

“Federal courts have consistently recognized, and capital juries have consistently found, that the government’s awareness of the potential for a person to commit violence, and the government’s capacity to avert violence, are mitigating circumstances of a capital offense,” the motion said.

Bowers is charged in U.S. District Court for the Oct. 27, 2018, shooting at the Squirrel Hill synagogue that housed the Tree of Life-Or L’Simcha, Dor Hadash and New Life congregations.

He opened fire during Saturday morning Shabbat services, killing 11 people there for worship. Two more were wounded, while four responding police officers were injured by gunfire.

Bowers has offered to plead guilty in exchange for a prison term of life with no chance for release. However, the government rejected the offer.

There is no trial date set for the case, as Bowers’ attorneys have been hampered in their mitigation efforts by restrictions imposed by the covid-19 pandemic.

In the motion filed on Wednesday, the defense wrote: “It is plain from the government’s filings that it has reviewed Mr. Bowers’ online activity, at least on Gab.com. What is not plain, and what the government has declined to provide in response to Mr. Bowers’ discovery requests, is whether the government was aware of his online activity prior to the shootings, as well as his exposure to the comments of others suggesting or promoting violence or expressing anti-Semitic comments on Gab.com.”

Among the information the defense is seeking:
.

Whether Bowers or any other user on Gab.com was monitored or identified in 2018 as a person who posed a threat of mobilizing to violence

Whether any covert law enforcement or national security contact was initiated with him or any other Gab user in 2018

Whether any federal program or law enforcement agency investigating white supremacy or online radicalization identified him before the synagogue shooting as a threat to the Jewish community in Pittsburgh

Whether those entities were advised of the potential threats

.


“Specifically, the government’s awareness of the potential for a person to commit violent acts, and the government’s capacity to deter such acts, are mitigating sentencing factors,” the defense wrote. “Such government awareness or capacity to deter does not bear on guilt-phase culpability; it does not shift blame or excuse or justify conduct. Rather, it is relevant to a jury’s determination of whether the death penalty is appropriate.”

To seek a death sentence, the government is required to list aggravating factors. In Bowers’ case, they included that he committed the acts after substantial planning and premeditation, that he was motivated by religious animus based on expressions of hate and contempt toward the Jewish faith; and that he chose the synagogue for the shooting with the intent to instill fear in the Jewish community.

As part of its support for those aggravating factors, the motion said, the prosecution included Bowers’ internet activity on Gab.com, a social media site known for allowing extremist views.

Specifically the government noted that Bowers researched the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society and affiliated congregations, including Dor Hadash; “that Mr. Bowers made communications evincing animosity toward people of the Jewish faith on Gab.com; and that Mr. Bowers’ activity on Gab.com evinced a ‘desire to broadcast his actions to an intended audience’ and an ‘awareness of how his actions would be perceived by the public.’ ”

In addition, the motion said that prosecutors have also asserted that Bowers engaged in chats on Gab where he communicated and offered assistance to those who shared his views.

In further explaining its request, the defense notes that the government has been monitoring social media sites relative to anti-Semitism and white nationalist groups for more than 10 years and cites several examples. They include one in the Western District of Michigan, where six men were charged in October in plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

“For years, the government has sponsored the development of software and other tools to track the online activity. In public reports, the government made clear that this threat was significant and should be a focus of law enforcement monitoring and intervention,” the defense motion said. “Based upon the documented monitoring by federal agencies over an extended period of time – both prior to and after Oct. 27, 2018 – there is good cause to believe that the federal government was aware of Mr. Bowers’ online activity, and the activity of others with whom he interacted on Gab.com, during the months before the shootings at the Tree of Life Synagogue.”

Prosecutors have until April 21 to respond.
.

[Librarian]

Jewish congregation in Tree of Life massacre asks Attorney General Merrick Garland to forgo Bowers death penalty

Jewish congregation in Tree of Life massacre asks Attorney General Merrick Garland to forgo Bowers death penalty

TORSTEN OVE
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
tove@post-gazette.com


https://www.post-gazette.com/news/cr...s/202106250104
http://christian-identity.net/forum/...3079#post23079
http://whitenationalist.org/forum/sh...3079#post23079

A Jewish congregation at the Tree of Life synagogue where Robert Bowers is accused of killing 11 worshippers in 2018 is asking U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to spare the suspected gunman the death penalty on religious grounds.

Congregation Dor Hadash, which has previously said it opposes capital punishment for Mr. Bowers, sent a letter to Mr. Garland last week asking the Justice Department to negotiate a plea deal.

"The Congregation respectfully requests that the government abandon its quest for the death penalty in the case against the person responsible for the October 27 attack," wrote Bruce Herschlag, president of the Dor Hadash board.

Three congregations — Tree of Life/Or L'Simcha, New Light and Dor Hadash — were holding services in the synagogue at the corner of Shady and Wilkins avenues when Mr. Bowers attacked, and members from all three were killed.

Mr. Herschlag said that federal prosecutors and agents building the case against Mr. Bowers have "stood by our sides and supported us from Day 1." But, he said, the congregation wants to see justice meted out in a "manner that is both consistent with our religious values and that spares us from the painful ordeal of prolonged legal maneuvering leading to a lengthy trial and years of unpredictable appeals."

Defense and prosecution have been sparring for more than two years over the Bowers case, with the defense filing all manner of motions to try to spare him the death penalty and the prosecution preparing for trial and complaining that the defense is dragging out the process with meritless discovery requests.

Mr. Herschlag said that multiple life sentences, representing each of the 11 people Mr. Bowers is accused of killing, will ensure that he never gets out of prison.

"This is the outcome we desire," he wrote.

He said Judaism values life above "almost all else" and that while capital crimes are described in the Torah, Jewish leaders developed a legal system that made it "almost impossible" for a death verdict.

"In Jewish tradition, courts imposing capital sentences have been viewed as bloodthirsty since the days of the sages," Mr. Herschlag wrote.

He also said that Jerry Rabinowitz, a beloved member of the congregation who was among the victims, opposed the death penalty.

"A negotiated plea resulting in life in prison would honor Jerry's memory," the letter says.

Mr. Herschlag said the congregation also wants to spare everyone the pain of reliving the shooting through court testimony, news coverage and years of appeals that would surely follow.

The Justice Department and the U.S. attorney's office in Pittsburgh will not comment on the Bowers case.

Meanwhile, the legal battle continues in U.S. District Court over Mr. Bowers' fate.

Most recently, the presiding judge, Donetta Ambrose, on Monday denied a defense motion that sought evidence that the FBI was monitoring Mr. Bowers' online rants leading up to the shooting.

The lawyers — two public defenders and an anti-death penalty specialist from California — had filed a motion two months ago for the judge to order prosecutors to provide evidence of monitoring. They argued that any such information could be used to mitigate against the death penalty at a trial.

The judge denied the request, saying the government was not involved in the crime and that "any alleged notice it may have had of the defendant's online activities does not otherwise lessen or explain the defendant's conduct."

Should the case proceed to a death penalty phase, the U.S. attorney's office would present aggravating factors favoring death, such as arguing that Mr. Bowers was motivated by religious hatred, planned the attacks carefully and chose Tree of Life to instill fear in Jews.

It is believed the gunman targeted the synagogue because Dor Hadash had announced its participation in National Refugee Shabbat, a program that encouraged Jewish congregations to provide an opportunity for their members to learn about refugee and asylum issues.

In online postings, Mr. Bowers accused HIAS — the group that promoted the Refugee Shabbat program — of bringing “hostile invaders to dwell among us,” according to prosecutors.

First Published June 25, 2021, 9:05am

.

[Librarian]

Judge issues orders moving Tree of Life case forward

Judge issues orders moving Tree of Life case forward


https://www.post-gazette.com/news/cr...s/202107120095
http://christian-identity.net/forum/...3163#post23163
http://whitenationalist.org/forum/sh...3163#post23163

A federal judge on Monday issued several orders to move forward proceedings in the long-stalled death penalty case against Robert Bowers, the Tree of Life shooting suspect.

In a conference call with the parties, U.S. District Judge Donetta Ambrose said it's time to get the case moving now that COVID-19 restrictions are being lifted and ordered that the defense will have until Oct. 1 to file official notice if it intends to seek an insanity defense.

Under the federal rules of criminal procedure, lawyers who intend to assert an insanity defense must notify the U.S. attorney's office in writing as part of the pre-trial motions.

The judge also ordered the parties to set a date for the completion of review of all the physical evidence in the case. She said she expects that the review will be done by the end of September.

The Bowers defense team has repeatedly requested delays in the case because the lawyers have said the pandemic restrictions have hindered their ability to collect information, conduct interviews, talk to their client and do research.

Oct. 27 will mark three years since the mass shooting that left 11 worshippers dead.

The Justice Department is seeking the federal death penalty. The defense — two public defenders and a California anti-death penalty lawyer — are asking for a plea deal that will spare Mr. Bowers' life. At least one of the three congregations at Tree of Life has also requested that the Justice Department accept a plea.

Judge Ambrose last week rejected several defense motions to suppress evidence collected after the shootings. She has yet to rule on several others and said she will hold hearings on those. She requested that the defense consult its witnesses regarding potential dates for hearings on those motions but said she expects to conduct the hearings on two successive dates in September.

The defense team has filed numerous motions challenging the validity of FBI search warrants granted after the shootings by U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Mitchell. Such challenges are usually made on the grounds that the warrants are too broad and give law enforcement too much discretion to rummage through someone's life.

The Bowers lawyers made that argument, too, but Judge Ambrose rejected it.

In one challenge, the lawyers said that searches of Mr. Bowers' home and vehicle failed to establish probable cause and lacked specifics. The judge disagreed, saying the warrants were not overly broad but sought to find evidence and establish a motive for the shootings in that Mr. Bowers is charged with hate crimes in targeting Jews.

A second motion challenged an FBI warrant for medical records pertaining to Mr. Bowers' commercial drivers' license as a trucker. The judge said the warrant was sufficiently limited in scope and noted that the FBI said that Mr. Bowers' mental health will be at issue at any trial, so medical records are germane.

Judge Ambrose also allowed a search of one of Mr. Bowers' email accounts to stand, saying the FBI affidavit supporting the warrant laid out the details of the shooting and made note that during the attack Mr. Bowers said he wanted to kill Jews.

The judge said she will hold a hearing, however, on the seizure of a second email account from December 2007 to March 2008. She said she will also hear arguments on a motion to suppress statements that Mr. Bowers made at the scene of the shooting and at the hospital where he was treated for gunshot wounds.

First Published July 12, 2021, 1:59pm

.

[Hunter Wallace]

Bi-Polar Bradifer Griffin / Cunthair Walrus & His Tails:

I'm shitting on Robert Bowers who killed 11 jews & shot 4 pigs . . .

. . . while going ass-3-mouf with Rabbi Baal Finck the Joisey Shitty Spic-Killer who snitched out his pig buddies helping him with the killing and in Losers of the South, cum-cum, cum-cum !!!

https://occidentaldissent.com/2022/0...robert-bowers/

============

[Robert Bowers]

Prosecutors Detail Pittsburgh Synagogue Killings in Trial Opening

Defense acknowledges shooter’s actions in deadliest antisemitic attack on U.S. soil
.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/pittsbu...=hp_lista_pos1

.

PITTSBURGH—Prosecutors seeking the death penalty for the man accused of killing 11 people at a synagogue here in 2018 described a scene of chaos and terror to a jury Tuesday, recounting how each of the victims was shot, one as she talked to a 911 dispatcher, others as they tried to hide or protect loved ones.

An attorney for the shooter, who has focused on helping him avoid the death penalty, acknowledged that he committed the killings but argued that he was acting with irrational motives.

The hate-crime trial of Robert Bowers began Tuesday in federal court in downtown Pittsburgh with a prosecutor recounting in graphic detail the Oct. 27, 2018, massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue as services were beginning at the three congregations that shared space in the building.

Bowers entered the synagogue armed with an AR-15 and three handguns and walked from room to room firing at worshipers as they held prayer books, hid beneath pews or in a kitchen and frantically called 911. The victims ranged in age from 54 to 97 in what is considered the worst antisemitic attack in U.S. history.

“We will seek justice for the defendant’s choices and actions, justice for his slaughter of the faithful in a house of worship,” said Soo C. Song, criminal division chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Western District of Pennsylvania.

Song said Bowers drove to the synagogue, where he shot out a large window and then went inside. He shot six people in the head, and others in the abdomen, shattering bodies.

“Once he entered the synagogue, the defendant began to hunt,” she said. “He moved from room to room and up and down, looking for Jewish worshipers to kill.”

Eleven people survived. Bowers surrendered to police after he had barricaded himself in an upstairs classroom.

Song said that Bowers had posted an online rant about a Jewish immigrant aid group on his phone just before entering the synagogue that indicated his motives for the killings. He wrote that the group “likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I can’t sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I’m going in.”

Bowers, 50 years old, faces 63 counts, including 11 counts each of obstruction of the free exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death and committing a hate crime resulting in death. He has pleaded not guilty.

Judy Clarke, a federal death-penalty expert who is representing Bowers, didn’t dispute any statements by prosecutors. She acknowledged that Bowers entered the synagogue and “shot every person he saw.” She called the killings “inexcusable” and “senseless.”

Clarke asked the jurors to scrutinize Bowers’s intent as it applies to the federal hate-crime charges in the case. She described Bowers, who had worked as a truck driver, as a quiet, socially awkward man who spent a great deal of time on the Internet in the months before the shooting “absorbing all kinds of vile extremist content.”

“He had this unthinkable, nonsensical, irrational thought that by killing Jews he would attain his goal,” Clarke said.

In the courtroom, Bowers, who is balding and wore a sweater, frequently leaned toward his attorneys during the opening statements, as some family members of the victims looked on.

The three congregations that held services in the synagogue are Tree of Life, New Light and Dor Hadash, and members remain divided over whether Bowers should be put to death. Seven of the nine families whose relatives were murdered wrote a letter in 2021 to Attorney General Merrick Garland saying that they support the death penalty. The board of Dor Hadash sent a letter to Garland opposing the death penalty in this case.

In court filings, Bowers’s lawyers said that he had offered to plead guilty and serve multiple life sentences, if prosecutors would agree not to seek the death penalty.

Adjudication of state criminal charges has been deferred until the federal trial is over.

Defense lawyers have said in court filings that Bowers has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and epilepsy. Such health information could be presented during a sentencing phase.

U.S. District Judge Robert J. Colville reminded jurors Tuesday that the first phase of the trial is to decide whether Bowers is guilty. A second phase would then decide whether he should be sentenced to death.

The panel of 12 jurors and six alternates includes seven women and 11 men. One juror is Chinese-American; the rest are white.

Witness testimony began late Tuesday morning.

An Allegheny County 911 dispatcher described two calls with Bernice Simon, 84, who was in a chapel with her husband, Sylvan Simon, 86, who had already been shot in the back.

In the recording played for the jury, Simon reports that there is a shooter in the building, and she says that she isn’t sure if her husband is still alive as bursts of gunfire can be heard. After the call ends, the dispatcher calls back.

“I hope he’s not dead,” Simon says during the second call played for the jury.

“I’m with you, Bernice. I’m not going anywhere,” the dispatcher says.

Simon’s panicked breathing is heard as she remains with her husband on a pew and tries to apply pressure to his wound. Then a chaotic barrage of gunshots and screaming can be heard.

“Stay quiet for me, Bernice. Are you still with me?” the dispatcher says. She asks Simon to press a button if she can hear her, but gets no response.

For a few moments, a labored, raspy sound can be heard on the call, which the dispatcher said she understood to be Bernice Simon’s last breaths.

“I was hearing her being shot,” the dispatcher testified in the rapt courtroom.

The dispatcher remained on the call for more than 43 minutes, until she heard police walk close to the cellphone and say, “Two DOA.” After ending the call, the dispatcher said she took a short break and then went back to work.

Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, the rabbi of the Tree of Life congregation, then took the stand.

He said he initially thought the gunshots were a metal coat rack falling over. When he identified gunfire, he told elderly congregation members to lie on the floor, while several others were able to find a way out of the building.

Myers made his way to a little-used upstairs bathroom, calling 911 on his way. Gunfire continued while Myers kept his hand on a doorknob, so that he could open the door and fight the gunman if he had to, he testified.

He said he expected to die. Myers said he recited a final confession. “I wasn’t angry at my God, because it wasn’t my God that did this,” he testified.

When four police officers arrived, they surrounded him, shielding him with their bodies, as they led him out of the building. Once he was outside, Myers said, they told him to run.

Clarke, Bowers’s attorney, declined to cross-examine either of the witnesses.

Write to Kris Maher at Kris.Maher@wsj.com

[WZOG TV6]

Day 1 -- Defendant in Pittsburgh synagogue massacre carried out attack, defense acknowledges as trial begins

Robert Bowers on trial for shooting deaths of 11 worshipers in Squirrel Hill

https://www.wtae.com/article/pittsbu...ments/44030890

.

Transcript: YEAH, KRISTIN AND MIKE, REALLY AN EMOTIONAL FIRST DAY OF OPENING ARGUMENTS AND TESTIMONY. IT WRAPPED UP WITH RABBI JEFFREY MYERS OF THE TREE OF LIFE CONGREGATION ON THE WITNESS STAND AS HE RECOUNTED THOSE TERRIFYING MOMENTS FROM THE MORNING OF OCTOBER 27TH, 2018, WHEN WEARING A TREE OF LIFE YARMULKE. RABBI JEFFREY MYERS WIPED AWAY TEARS ON THE WITNESS STAND TUESDAY AS HE WALKED JURORS THROUGH THAT TRAUMATIC DAY IN OCTOBER 2018. MYERS REMEMBERS PREPARING FOR SHABBAT MORNING SERVICES, AS HE WOULD EVERY WEEK. HIS SERMON THAT SATURDAY FOCUSED ON THE JEWISH IMPERATIVE TO WELCOME ALL GUESTS A SERMON HE NEVER GOT TO DELIVER. HE RECOUNTED THINKING THAT A SOUND FROM THE LOWER LOBBY WAS A COAT RACK FALLING. SOON, HE REALIZED IT WAS GUNFIRE. THE RABBI TESTIFIED THAT HE INSTRUCTED HIS CONGREGANTS TO EITHER DROP ON THE FLOOR OR LAY DOWN ON THE PEWS AND STAY QUIET. BUT HE WAS ABLE TO GET INSIDE A SMALL BATHROOM UPSTAIRS WHERE HE CALLED 911. MYERS TOLD JURORS THAT WHILE ON THE PHONE WITH THE DISPATCHER, HE REALIZED HE MIGHT DIE, AND HE BEGAN RECITING A PRAYER IN HEBREW AS HE THOUGHT ABOUT THE HISTORY OF HIS PEOPLE BEING HUNTED AND SLAUGHTERED. MYERS WAS EVENTUALLY RESCUED BY POLICE BODY CAM FOOTAGE SHOWS HIM STILL WEARING HIS YARMULKE AND TALLIT OUTSIDE. INSIDE. 11 PEOPLE WERE DEAD. SEVEN OF THEM FROM THE TREE OF LIFE CONGREGATION CLARION, INCLUDING BROTHERS CECIL AND DAVID ROSENTHAL, WHO ASSISTED RABBI MYERS IN LEADING SHABBAT SERVICES EVERY WEEK. YOU HONOR THEM BY REMEMBERING THEM EVERY DAY. YOU HONOR THEM BY BEING ABLE TO LOOK AT THEIR NAMES EVERY SINGLE DAY. STEVEN COHEN IS THE CO-PRESIDENT OF THE NEW LIGHT CONGREGATION, WHICH LOST THREE MEMBERS THAT DAY. WE TRUST THE JURY WILL REACH AN APPROPRIATE JUST DECISION. AND TODAY IS THE BEGINNING OF THAT PROCESS. PROSECUTORS SUZONG CAUTIONING JURORS TUESDAY THAT THEY WILL SEE GRAPHIC EVIDENCE DURING THE TRIAL, ARGUING THAT THE DEPTH OF THE DEFENDANT’S MALICE AND HATE CAN ONLY BE PROVED BY PRESENTING DETAILS OF HIS ACTIONS THAT DAY. THE DEFENSE TEAM HAS NOT DISPUTED THAT ROBERT BOWERS KILLED 11 PEOPLE, BUT IN HER OPENING STATEMENTS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY JUDY CLARKE ARGUED THAT BOWERS MOTIVE WAS IRRATIONAL AND HIS INTENT MISGUIDED. IT WAS RABBI MYERS WHO ENDED THE DAY ON THE WITNESS STAND, BUT IT WAS AN ALLEGHENY COUNTY 911 DISPATCHER WHO BEGAN THE DAY TESTIFYING ABOUT THE CALL SHE FIELDED FROM BERNICE SIMON ON THE MORNING OF OCTOBER 27TH, 2018. BERNICE HAD CALLED 911 TO RELAY THE FACT THAT HER HUSBAND HAD BEEN SHOT AND THEY NEEDED HELP. IT WAS DURING THAT CALL THAT BERNICE, TOO, WAS SHOT. BOTH SHE AND HER HUSBAND, SYLVAN SIMON, IED THAT DAY ALONG WITH NINE OTHERS. LOOKING AHEAD, THE TRIAL CONTINUES TOMORROW MORNING AT 830. WE’RE LIV

---

Robert Bowers carried out the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history when he killed 11 people and injured seven others by storming a Pittsburgh synagogue and shooting everyone he could find. On that, everyone agrees.

Even though Bowers’ defense conceded the point Tuesday at the outset of his federal trial, they hope to spare the suburban truck driver from a possible death sentence over the Oct. 27, 2018, attack at the Tree of Life synagogue.

Dramatic evidence and descriptions from witnesses marked the start and end of testimony on day one of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial.

Tree of Life congregation Rabbi Jeffrey Myers testified Tuesday afternoon that he heard gunfire during the service. He told congregants to get down to the floor and be quiet. He said he then heard multiple bursts of gunfire getting louder and closer. Myers also described trying to assist worshippers to leave the building.

The first witness to testify was an Allegheny County 911 call taker on the day of the shooting. Shannon Basa-Sabol described victim Bernice Simon telling her Simon's husband had been shot. There was the sound of gunfire in the background on the call and then Bernice Simon herself was shot. The witness was sobbing as she left the courtroom after her testimony.

Victim families who were in the courtroom for the testimony could be seen comforting and consoling one another as they listened.

.
.

Bowers could be seen looking at his attorney's computer screens and taking notes during this first day of the trial.

Prosecutor Soo Song opened by telling the jury defendant Robert Bowers drove to the Jewish house of worship and brought an arsenal of weapons and ammunition and an intent to kill Jews.

She told jurors, "You'll hear he hated Jews, called them 'evil'" and "praised the Holocaust."

.
.
Song recounted how, as worshippers were gathering for services that day, Bowers was making his own preparations to "kill and defile."

She cautioned the jurors on the sensitive nature of evidence they'll encounter. She said "the depth of the defendant's malice and hate" can only be proved by presenting details of his actions that day. She recounted how when surrendering to police, bowers told them, "All Jews need to die."

“The depths of the defendant’s malice and hate can only be proven in the broken bodies” of the victims and “his hateful words,” Song told the 12 jurors and six alternates hearing the case.
.
.
Song said Bowers also hated those who wanted to help immigrants — including a Jewish organization and congregations that hosted services to assist immigrants who Bowers called "invaders."

During the opening statement to the jury, the prosecution took time to humanize and personalize the stories of each of the victims, their efforts to help one another and to call 911.

Outside the courthouse, a member of the New Light congregation, Stephen Cohen, told Pittsburgh's Action News 4, "You honor them by remembering them every day. You honor them by being able to look at their names every single day."

Defense attorney Judy Clarke admitted to the jury in her opening that the killings were "incomprehensible" and "inexcusable" and said there's "no doubt" Bowers is the killer and "preplanned" it. But the defense described Bowers' motive as "irrational" and his intent "misguided."
.
.



Clarke said each count filed against Bowers has elements — specific facts — that must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt, noting many counts require the jurors to judge Bowers' motive and intent.

Clarke asked the jury to pay close attention to motive and intent but she said the defense is not seeking to justify Bowers' actions.

Clark said, "There is no making sense of this senseless act," adding that Bowers "caused extraordinary harm to many." But she said, "We can do our best to uphold the rule of law to figure out what Bowers motive and intent were and then applying the law.

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.”

In the long run-up to the trial, Bowers’ lawyers did little to cast doubt on whether he was the gunman and instead focused on trying to save his life. As an indication that the trial’s guilt-or-innocence phase would be almost a foregone conclusion, they spent little time during jury selection asking how potential jurors would reach a verdict.

.
.

Instead, they focused on the penalty phase and how jurors would decide whether to impose the death penalty in a case of a man charged with hate-motivated killings in a house of worship. The defense lawyers, who recently said Bowers has schizophrenia and brain impairments, probed whether potential jurors could consider factors such as mental illness or a difficult childhood.

The families of those killed are divided over whether the government should pursue the death penalty, but most have voiced support for it.

The three congregations have spoken out against antisemitism and other forms of bigotry since the attack. The Tree of Life Congregation also is working with partners on plans to overhaul its current structure, which still stands but has been closed since the shootings, by creating a complex that would house a sanctuary, museum, memorial and center for fighting antisemitism.

The death penalty trial, which is being presided over by Judge Robert Colville, is proceeding three years after now-President Joe 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 vigorously work to uphold death sentences that have been issued and, in some cases, to pursue new death sentences at trial.

Testimony will resume Wednesday morning downtown.

"Pittsburgh is unique among many cities. We are a community. A community that works together, stands together, cries together and hugs together. I think that's what came out of the last four and a half years is how close we are as a community," Cohen said outside the courthouse. "We trust the jury will reach an appropriate just decision and today is the beginning of that process."

___

[Tittsberg TA jewspaper]

Day 2 -- Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial live updates: Jury hears from more survivors as the community reacts

Follow the long-awaited trial, inside and outside the courtroom
.'
.

Testimony continued Wednesday in the trial against Robert Bowers, the man accused of killing 11 worshippers in the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting.
What you should know

The federal trial of Robert Bowers continued Wednesday in Downtown Pittsburgh.

• Mr. Bowers is accused of killing 11 worshippers in the Squirrel Hill synagogue that housed three congregations in the Oct. 27, 2018, shooting.
• It was the worst antisemitic attack in American history.
• The second day of testimony featured multiple witnesses from the different congregations. Some described hiding in closets during the shooting.
• While Mr. Bowers, 50, has pleaded not guilty to dozens of federal charges, one of his lawyers did not dispute that he was the shooter.
• Testimony will resume Thursday at about 9 a.m.

The second day of testimony featured multiple witnesses from the different congregations who worshiped at the Squirrel Hill synagogue. “I thought that if the shooter realized I wasn’t dead he might come back and finish the job," one witness, who was shot but survived, testified Wednesday.

Testimony resumes Thursday.

What you should know

The federal trial of Robert Bowers continued Wednesday in Downtown Pittsburgh.

• Mr. Bowers is accused of killing 11 worshippers in the Squirrel Hill synagogue that housed three congregations in the Oct. 27, 2018, shooting.
• It was the worst antisemitic attack in American history.
• The second day of testimony featured multiple witnesses from the different congregations. Some described hiding in closets during the shooting.
• While Mr. Bowers, 50, has pleaded not guilty to dozens of federal charges, one of his lawyers did not dispute that he was the shooter.
• Testimony will resume Thursday at about 9 a.m.

---

.
7:26 p.m.
'You are not alone': Shooting survivor hid in a dark closet as gunfire ripped through the building


As Dan Leger lay dying, he thought back on his life: His wife, his two sons, his friends, his career.

He was a nurse and a chaplain, he knew how death felt and looked. He felt his breathing change, his lungs weaken. He prayed.

He survived.

“I thought about the wonder of it all, the beauty of it, and the happiness I had experienced,” Mr. Leger testified Wednesday.

Testimony over the first two days in the trial against Robert Bowers — the man accused of killing 11 worshipers in a Squirrel Hill synagogue — vacillated between witnesses’ memories of their slain congregants and their faith, and then what they saw, heard and experienced the day of the 2018 shooting.

Mr. Bowers, the man whose own lawyers don’t dispute he opened fire on the synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018, sat quietly during testimony in Pittsburgh’s Downtown federal courthouse. He faces 63 federal charges in connection with the mass shooting, including hate crime-related counts. Mr. Bowers, 50, could face the death penalty if he’s convicted.

Those killed became the faces of the worst antisemitic attack in American history: Richard Gottfried, Joyce Fienberg, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, David and Cecil Rosenthal, Bernice and Sylvan Simon, Daniel Stein, Melvin Wax, Irving Younger.

On that October morning in 2018, before Mr. Leger found himself dying in a stairwell, he’d been in the room in the synagogue known as the rabbi’s study. That’s where Dor Hadash, one of the three congregations that used the building, met for its services. And it’s where he, along with Martin Gaynor and Jerry Rabinowitz, had been setting up when they heard a noise.

“I thought to myself, ‘This can’t be gunfire. This must be the furnace blowing up,’” Mr. Leger said.

As Mr. Leger recalled it Wednesday, he and Rabinowitz, a physician, looked at each other, and Rabinowitz said, “Oh damn.”

“We both being trained helpers, we wanted to do something to help,” Mr. Leger said. “So we both moved in the direction of the gunfire, which perhaps was a stupid thing to have done, but that’s what we did.”

He said Rabinowitz ran out ahead of him.

He never saw him again.

— Megan Guza and Hallie Lauer

---

5:07 p.m.
House passes resolution condemning antisemitism


WASHINGTON — As the trial of the man accused of killing 11 worshippers at a Pittsburgh synagogue continued Wednesday, the U.S. House marked Jewish American Heritage Month by unanimously approving a resolution condemning antisemitism and recognizing American Jews.

The bipartisan legislation passed 429-0, including the votes of all five Western Pennsylvania House members. It calls on elected officials and others to highlight the accomplishments and contributions of Jewish Americans.

An identical measure has been introduced in the U.S. Senate, co-sponsored by Pennsylvania Democrats Bob Casey and John Fetterman. This year marked the first time that the same bipartisan resolution was introduced in both chambers.

The resolution was debated Tuesday, the same day testimony began in the trial of Robert Bowers. Mr. Bowers is accused in the 2018 shooting, the worst antisemitic attack in American history.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the bill’s chief sponsor, said it wasn’t lost on her that the debate was held during the trial’s first day.

“Our hearts are with the victims, the families and the entire Pittsburgh community,” she said during Tuesday’s floor debate.

— Jonathan D. Salant

Read more: House passes resolution condemning antisemitism as synagogue shooting trial continues

---