CHICAGO (AP) — The federal government trial of a 50-year-old trucker convicted of killing 11 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue in the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in US history is in its third and final phase, as jurors must decide whether to sentence him to death.
The judge convicted Robert Bowers in june after three weeks of testimony about how he stormed into the Tree of Life synagogue in October 2018 and shot anyone he saw. He killed members of three congregations that shared the building and wounded two worshipers and five police officers.
During the second phase of trial, it took jurors just two hours to decide that Bowers was legally eligible for the death penalty. That led to the final phase, which is more emotionally demanding for jurors as they weigh whether to sentence the man on the other side of the courtroom to death.
Here’s a look at the final phase:
IS THERE ANY WAY TO PREDICT THE RESULT?
Given the overwhelming evidence, all including Bowers’ lawyers He knew that a conviction was almost certain.
However, the outcome of the sentencing phases is notoriously unpredictable, because only one juror is needed to avoid the unanimity required for a death sentence. Without it, the defendant automatically receives life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Jury selection is designed, among other things, to weed out those who say they could never sentence someone to death. But it’s not uncommon in such cases for juries to deadlock.
It came at a trial in the federal capital this year for Sayfullo Saipov, who was convicted of killing eight people in 2017 by running them over with a truck along a bike path in New York City. TO divided among the jurors it meant Saipov had a life sentence.
If Bowers receives a death sentence, it would be the first time in a federal trial during Joe Biden’s presidency. the first president of the united states have opposed capital punishment before taking office. It would also be years before he was executed, given appeals and a current moratorium on federal executions.
Most recent federal executions: there were 13 in the final months of Donald Trump’s presidency — were carried out by lethal injections of pentobarbital into an Indiana prison where federal death row it’s found.
WHY THIS FINAL STAGE?
This stage is meant to allow jurors to take a closer look at Bowers to determine if he really is the worst of the worst and therefore deserving of the death penalty.
During the sentencing phase, prosecutors and the defense have more leeway to discuss Bowers’ broader life, much of which would have been found inadmissible earlier.
Most trials in the federal capital combine eligibility and sentencing decisions in a final second stage. But the courts have discretion on whether to divide the process.
WHICH SIDE DOES THE HEAVIEST LOAD FACE?
High courts have said the presumption is that defendants should receive life in prison, according to guides for death penalty lawyers on the Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel website.
That puts the burden on the prosecution to prove that Bowers’ actions were so depraved and his character so irredeemable that a death sentence is warranted.
Prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the aggravating factors that count in favor of Bowers’ execution outweigh any mitigating factors that might require a life sentence.
WHAT ARE SOME AGGRAVATING FACTORS IN THE SYNAGOGUE SHOOTING?
The prosecution told the jury at the beginning of the sentencing phase that Bowers killed people who were especially vulnerable, including a 90-year-old woman and three 80-year-olds.
“These were not victims who could flee or defend themselves. They were easy prey,” prosecutor Nicole Vásquez Schmitt said Monday.
Prosecutors have also stressed that Bowers carefully planned the massacre. and have been highlighting his antisemitism throughout the trial.
“He hated the Jews and wanted to kill as many as he could,” Vásquez Schmitt told the jury this week.
WHAT ABOUT THE EXTENUATING FACTORS?
Bowers’ lawyers have reiterated argued that severe mental disorders and deep childhood traumas make him less guilty of the synagogue attack.
His attorney, Elisa Long, told jurors Monday that Bowers’ father took his own life after being accused of rape and that when Bowers was a child, his mother told him she wished he had never been born.
Demonstrating that a defendant showed remorse is often a critical mitigating factor. But that will be difficult in this case, given statements prosecutors say Bowers made to mental health analysts while in jail, including repeating anti-Semitic stereotypes and saying he was sorry he hadn’t killed more Jews.
WHAT ABOUT THE VERDICT FORMS?
Verdict forms generally list all possible aggravating and mitigating factors. They can be long. The one on Saipov’s case was 18 pages long.
The mitigating factors that Saipov’s jurors accepted included that he was not a leader of the terrorist group to which he expressed allegiance and that he had a family that condemned his actions but still loved him.
Among the aggravating factors they accepted was that he intended to terrorize the community.
HOW DOES THE JURY BALANCE THE FACTORS?
Jurors must be unanimous in accepting any aggravating factors using the high standard of reasonable doubt. It can be considered a mitigating factor even if only one juror accepts it.
The US Supreme Court has said that jurors must unanimously find at least one aggravating factor before they can impose the death penalty. But they can’t find mitigating factors and still opt for a life sentence.
By weighing all factors in deliberations, courts have instructed jurors not to decide sentence based simply on whether there are further aggravating or mitigating factors. Ultimately, the weight that juries give to different factors is subjective.
WHAT HAPPENS TO THE SURVIVORS AND THE FAMILY OF THE VICTIMS?
Jurors have been hearing from them about the trauma inflicted by Bowers.
On Monday, survivor Carol Black testified about her brother, Richard Gottfried, 65, a dentist Bowers killed.
“It’s a big hole in our family, that he’s not here,” she said.
There are restrictions on what victims and family members can say. Judges generally forbid them from telling jurors that they want defendants to die for their crimes.
Defense attorneys often have their client’s family members testify to try to persuade the jury that the defendant is not all bad, even pointing to some past act of kindness.
WHAT ARE SOME OTHER CONSIDERATIONS?
One could be the danger Bowers could pose if he goes to prison for life. Prosecutors often argue that even behind bars, a defendant could kill again, be it a fellow prisoner or a guard.
Defense attorneys sometimes seek to enter statistics showing that those incarcerated for violent crimes are not necessarily prone to violence behind bars. Research on that point is inconclusive.
___ Follow Michael Tarm on Twitter at @mtarm. Find more AP coverage of the synagogue attack at https://apnews.com/hub/pittsburgh-synagogue-massacre.