Fifty-year-old Robert Bowers was found guilty Friday on all counts in the October 27, 2018, massacre at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue.
Eleven worshipers were killed, and seven others were wounded in the shooting, the deadliest antisemitic attack in US history.
The murderer entered the synagogue armed with an AR-15 assault rife and three handguns shortly before 10 am, yelling “All Jews must die!” as he opened fire.
Attorneys for Bowers, who had a history of spewing antisemitic hate, admitted during the trial that their client had indeed carried out the horrific attack. They focused instead on trying to save Bowers from receiving the death penalty, and offered no defense after the prosecution rested its case.
Attorney Elisa Long told the jury in her closing statement, “At the end of the day, there is no making sense of this senseless act,” CBS Pittsburgh reported. She instead tried to convince the jury that her client’s sense of reality was “distorted.”
Jurors in the case took little more than five hours between Thursday and Friday to reach their verdict.
Bowers was convicted on 63 criminal charges that included hate crimes resulting in death.
The jury will now have to decide whether the murderer will spend the rest of his life in prison or be put to death for his crimes.
