July 14, 2023 | 25 Tammuz 5783
Candlelighting 8:32 p.m. | Havdalah 9:38 p.m. | Vol. 66, No. 28 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
Key prosecution witness says Secure synagogue shooter proud of his Community killing, not delusional Network sets up local command post during synagogue shooter trial
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Seminar teaches best practices
A view of the Joseph F. Weis Jr. U.S. Courthouse, downtown
Photo by Alexandra Wimley/Pittsburgh Union Progress
By Chronicle Staff and Union Progress Staff
Teacher attends Alfred Lerner Summer
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Meet Lillian (Ellie) Feibus
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he second phase of the synagogue shooter trial — the penalty eligibility phase — continued last week and this week with expert witnesses testifying about the mental health of the defendant. He was found guilty on all 63 counts last month and is now on trial to determine if he’s eligible for the death penalty. To show that he is, the prosecution has to prove he had the intent to kill. The defense wants to convince the jury that he was delusional and could not form that intent. To bolster that contention, the lawyers have presented experts who say brain scans and other tests show he’s schizophrenic. Prosecutors have presented their own experts to counter that diagnosis. If the jury decides that he is eligible for death, jurors will move to the final phase of determining his sentence: Life in prison or execution. Here is a recap of the testimony of Days 7-9 of the trial’s second phase. For more extensive and up-to-date coverage, go to pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
Day 7
Ryan Darby of Vanderbilt University Medical Center was the prosecution’s first witness in the eligibility phase of the trial and directly contradicted defense experts who
said the defendant is schizophrenic. Darby discussed his three-hour evaluation of the defendant and his interpretations of MRI and PET scans of the shooter’s brain. He also provided background on the defendant’s personal history and belief system. The defense has argued that he suffers from schizophrenia, epilepsy, delusions and other abnormalities. Darby pushed back on those conclusions. In particular, he testified that the white-matter lesions found in the defendant’s brain, which defense experts had presented as potential evidence of a disorder, were not abnormal and instead potentially caused by risk factors such as smoking, obesity, high cholesterol or drug use. The shooter was a daily cigarette smoker who relied on prescription pain medications and heroin, and experimented with cocaine. He confirmed testimony from other experts that there is no way to definitively tell whether a person has schizophrenia from a brain scan. He also reported disagreements among doctors who examined the defendant’s EEG scans as to whether signs of epilepsy were present. Darby outlined the defendant’s personal history, which the shooter described during the May 2023 evaluation. Growing up, he was interested in cars, guns and “blowing stuff up” — to the point that one of his hobbies as a child Please see Trial, page 10
From left: Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh Community Security Director Shawn Brokos, SCN National Director and CEO Michael Masters, Federation Security Associate Erin Fagan and SCN National Security Director Brad Orsini
Photo by David Rullo
By David Rullo | Staff Writer
A
s the synagogue shooter trial proceeds, Pittsburgh has some extra help ensuring its Jewish community remains safe. The Secure Community Network has set up a temporary command post down the hall from Shawn Brokos, security director for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. A rotating team has been scouring the dark web for activities or phrases that might pose a threat to the community. Of particular interest are phrases that refer to the trial, Tree of Life, or other terms that might relate to Pittsburgh. And while the online research could be done at SCN’s headquarters in Chicago, Brokos said having a team situated in the city provides an immediacy to the work. “It’s in real time,” she said. “What I like is Erin [Fagan, community security associate] and I can pick something up, come down here and say, ‘What have you seen on this?’ or ‘What do you know about that?’” Please see Network, page 10
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