Jury selection ends in Pittsburgh synagogue massacre with testimony expected Tuesday
Jury selection has ended in the trial of a man accused of killing 11 worshipers at a Pittsburgh synagogue in the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in US history
PITTSBURGH– Jury selection ended Thursday in the trial of a man accused of killing 11 worshipers at a Pittsburgh synagogue in the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in US history.
Prosecutors and the defense have agreed on a panel of 12 jurors and six alternatives who will hear evidence against Robert Bowers, 50, in the 2018 massacre at the Tree of Life Synagogue.
Prosecutors are asking for the death penalty. Testimony is expected to begin on Tuesday.
Jury selection began on April 24, with each side grilling dozens of potential jurors over their views on capital punishment. The jury is made up of 11 women and seven men.
Bowers faces 63 counts in the October 27, 2018 attack, including 11 counts of obstructing the free exercise of religion resulting in death and 11 counts of hate crimes resulting in death. Prosecutors said Bowers made anti-Semitic comments at the scene of the attack and online.
Bowers, a truck driver from the Pittsburgh suburb of Baldwin, had offered to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence, but federal prosecutors turned him down. Bowers’ defense attorneys also recently said he suffers from schizophrenia and brain impairments.
ABC News
