gunman charged with killing 11 worshippers at a Pittsburgh synagogue has been discovered responsible on by a jury within the US state of Pennsylvania.
Truck driver Robert Bowers, 50, is but to be sentenced however might face the dying penalty.
The assault on October 27 contained in the Tree of Life synagogue was the deadliest antisemitic assault in US historical past.
Bowers pleaded not responsible to all 63 fees in opposition to him. The jury discovered him responsible on all counts.
During the three-week trial prosecutors known as 60 witnesses as they tried to show the gunman carried out his assault due to a hatred for Jews.
Bowers’ defence group didn't name any witnesses and didn't deny that he carried out the assault, however stated it was due a delusional hatred for immigrants and a Jewish non-profit group, not Jewish folks.
Under US federal regulation, to ensure that the jury to impose the dying penalty, prosecutors should show that Bowers was motivated by race hate or killed to cease folks from exercising their spiritual beliefs.
he jury deliberated about 5 hours over two days earlier than reaching a verdict.
Bowers turned a sacred home of worship right into a “hunting ground,” concentrating on his victims due to their faith, a prosecutor instructed jurors on Thursday. Reading the names of every of the 11 victims he killed, prosecutor Mary Hahn requested the jury to “hold this defendant accountable ... and hold him accountable for those who cannot testify.”
Bowers, who was armed with an AR-15 rifle and different weapons, additionally shot and wounded seven, together with 5 responding law enforcement officials.
Prosecutors offered proof of his deep-seated animosity towards Jews and immigrants. Over 11 days of testimony, jurors discovered that Bowers had extensively posted, shared or appreciated antisemitic and white supremacist content material on Gab, a social media platform common with the far proper, and praised Hitler and the Holocaust. Bowers instructed police that “all these Jews need to die,” Hahn stated.
Survivors testified concerning the terror they felt that day, together with a lady who recounted how she was shot within the arm after which realized her 97-year-old-mother had been shot and killed proper subsequent to her. Andrea Wedner, the trial’s final witness, instructed jurors she touched her mom’s lifeless physique and cried out, “Mommy,” earlier than SWAT officers led her to security.
An additional listening to shall be held to find out whether or not Bowers will obtain a dying penalty sentence.
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