Opening statements begin in Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial

It has taken four years and seven months, but the man accused of killing 11 people as they gathered to practice their Jewish faith at a Squirrel Hill synagogue is going to trial.

Opening statements in the case against Robert Bowers, 50, of Baldwin began Tuesday morning in a relatively small, fifth-floor courtroom of the Joseph F. Weis Jr. U.S. Courthouse on Grant Street, Downtown Pittsburgh.

The defendant faces 63 federal counts, and the U.S. Department of Justice is seeking the death penalty.

A jury of 11 women and seven men was selected in a process that took nearly four weeks.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Soo C. Song provided opening statement & said when Bowers was finally caught by police, he was asked by officers why he carried out the shooting. An officer said Bowers blurted out that "all Jews need to die" and "that Jews are the children of Satan."

— Ryan Deto (@RyanDeto) May 30, 2023

The panel, culled from a pool of 1,500 people who filled out questionnaires and 214 who were interviewed, includes an ICU nurse, a real estate manager, a paralegal, a postal worker and a state parole employee.

Seventeen of the 18 people serving, including alternates, are white. Government prosecutors struck four Black people, a Hispanic person and a Jewish person from the pool of eligible jurors during selection Thursday based on their hesitation to impose the death penalty.

The trial, before U.S. District Judge Robert Colville, likely will generate significant media interest in the early days, as more than a dozen national or international news outlets are expected.

Because the case likely will draw dozens of synagogue and family members, as well as the general public, as spectators, the courts have set up an overflow courtroom to view the proceedings through a video feed, along with a media room.

The trial will be divided among three phases: the guilt phase, which is expected to take about three weeks, and then a death penalty eligibility phase and a penalty selection phase.

The two parts of sentencing are expected to last six weeks and are likely to feature powerful, emotional testimony from the loved ones of those slain in the Oct. 27, 2018, attack: Bernice Simon, 84, and her husband, Sylvan Simon, 86; brothers David Rosenthal, 54, and Cecil Rosenthal, 59; Dan Stein, 71; Irving Younger, 69; Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz, 66; Joyce Fienberg, 75; Melvin Wax, 87; Richard Gottfried, 65; and Rose Mallinger, 97.

Two others who had been worshipping at the Tree of Life synagogue that day were shot and wounded. Police officers also were injured responding to the attack.

The defense has filed notice that it intends to present evidence during the sentencing phase that Bowers has epilepsy and schizophrenia.

To rebut that testimony, government experts were conducting a psychiatric evaluation of Bowers — with permission from the court — last week.

The results of that evaluation will remain under seal unless and until Bowers presents his own psychiatric evidence during the sentencing portion of trial, Colville said.

Maggie Feinstein, director of the 10.27 Healing Partnership, an organization formed to help the community heal in the wake of the synagogue shooting, spoke Thursday about the case finally moving to trial and the impact it might have.

“I want to remind people that it’s not your duty to absorb every graphic detail in order to provide support to each other,” she said. “It’s not your responsibility to bear witness to all of the details either through what is in the news or by coming to the courthouse.”

Instead, she urged those in the community to use the time to grow and learn and fight antisemitism.

“Learn about the ways we all can prevent acts like this by interrupting negative stereotypes and beliefs about each other,” Feinstein said. “We can learn from history in this country and other countries and apply what we teach our children to how we can help families and friends around us.”

Editor’s note: The 10.27 Healing Partnership’s website includes available resources for those who may need assistance throughout the trial.