The man charged in the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting will face a potential death sentence following a judge’s ruling Tuesday.
Attorneys for Robert Bowers, 50, filed a motion arguing the death penalty should not be a sentencing option in the case. His attorneys claimed the feds “arbitrarily” decided to put the death penalty on the table.
U.S. District Judge Robert Colville rejected the motion, writing that Bowers’ argument “fails entirely” to prove its point.
Bowers faces 63 federal charges in connection with the October 2018 massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood.
Bowers fatally shot 11 people inside the house of worship and wounded five police officers in a shootout outside the building, according to authorities. It remains the deadliest attack on Jewish people in U.S. history.
Across more than four years of legal back and forth between the shooting and the trial’s opening date, Bowers offered to plead guilty in exchange for a sentence of life in prison without parole. However, federal prosecutors turned him down.
In November 2022, family members of nine of the 11 victims wrote to the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle saying they supported plans to seek the death penalty.
Jury selection for Bowers’ federal trial began April 24 and remains ongoing in downtown Pittsburgh. Bowers’ defense team has questioned all potential jurors on their opinions about the death penalty.
Shortly after taking office, Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a moratorium on the federal death penalty. However, federal prosecutors have continued to seek it in certain cases.
Bowers also faces a litany of state charges, which have been placed on hold while the federal case plays out