JUSTICE August 4, 2023 | 17 Av 5783
Candlelighting 8:14 p.m. | Havdalah 9:16 p.m. | Vol. 66, No. 31 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
Pittsburgh synagogue shooter to be sentenced to death
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New Torah dedicated in honor of Joyce and Stephen Fienberg
p Survivors and family members of victims gather at the podium for a press conference at the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill on Aug. 2 after a jury decided that the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter will receive the death penalty for killing 11 people at the Tree of Life building on Oct. 27, 2018. Photo by Alexandra Wimley/Pittsburgh Union Progress
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ittsburgh synagogue shooter Robert Bowers will be sentenced to die. After deliberating for about 11 hours, a federal jury imposed the death penalty on the killer for each of the 22 capital offenses he faced. The jury reached its verdict on day 36 of the trial and nearly five years after the shooter rampaged through the Tree of Life building on Shabbat with an AR-15 and slaughtered 11 members of the Pittsburgh Jewish
community in the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history. Bowers is only the fourth federal defendant in the history of the Western District of Pennsylvania to face the death penalty and the only one sentenced to die. U.S. District Judge Robert Colville said he would formally sentence him on Thursday. The jury rejected the 115 mitigating factors the defense team offered as reasons the convicted killer should be sentenced to life in prison rather than death. For more than a month during the penalty phases of the trial, jurors heard and saw graphic details, including 911 calls and crime scene photos. They also heard from victims and victims’ family members who offered glimpses into how their lives had changed since the mass shooting on Oct. 27, 2018. Those testifying included not only Pittsburgh Jewish community members, but also first responders injured during gun
battles with the convicted killer. Dueling doctors also took the stand. Defense expert witnesses claimed the shooter suffered from epilepsy, schizophrenia and had various brain injuries. That, combined with an early life of neglect and alleged abuse, they argued, should disqualify him from receiving the death penalty. Prosecution expert witnesses argued that there was no proof that the shooter suffered from a mental illness. They said his meticulous planning and his measured reactions during the shooting proved that he was capable of planning the attack, understanding his actions and grasping their impact. The government cited the shooter’s long history of antisemitism, arguing that his belief system was not the result of delusions accompanying mental illness but instead were simply the common hatred found on social
p Anthony Fienberg and his son Adam embrace as Anthony carries the new Torah dedicated to his parents Joyce Fienberg and Dr. Stephen Fienberg.
Photo by Alexandra Wimley, Pittsburgh Union Progress
By David Rullo | Staff Writer
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parade of hundreds marched down Murray Avenue in Squirrel Hill on Sunday to celebrate the Jewish community’s newest Torah. The procession began on the corner of Murray Avenue and Beacon Street and made its way to Shaare Torah Congregation, where the scroll will be housed. The Torah was sponsored by Anthony Fienberg and his family in honor of his late parents, Joyce and Dr. Stephen Fienberg.
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By David Rullo and Adam Reinherz | Staff Writers
We remember the victims
Please see Torah, page 15
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