Pittsburgh shooter, who wanted to 'kill every Jew he could find', eligible for death penalty

Five years after 11 worshippers at a Synagogue in Pennsylvania's Pittsburgh were shot down in a rampaging shooting incident, a federal jury on Thursday (July 13) decided that the shooter Robert Bowers was eligible for the death penalty.

The jury's decision has paved the path of a grueling sentencing phase to a months-long trial over the deadliest attack on Jewish people in the history of the United States at a synagogue in 2018.

Pittsburgh synagogue attack: What happened?

Why has Robert Bowers been deemed eligible for the death penalty?

The jury came to the conclusion that Bowers executed the shooting act intentionally and was in a clear mental state.

Bowers, 50, had already been found guilty of the fatal shooting last month, and faces the death penalty or life in prison.

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Bowers was found guilty on 63 felony charges, 22 of which carry the death penalty, including obstruction to the free exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death.

He and his lawyers never argued for his innocence, Jerusalem Post reported.

They, however, pleaded with the jury to spare his life because his actions were not intended to prevent worship, since they said he suffered from multiple mental illnesses, including schizophrenia and epilepsy.

Bowers went ‘to hunt down and kill every Jew he could find’: Prosecutor

Prosecutor Soo Song, an active seekers of death penalty forBowers, claimed in her closing arguments on Wednesday that Bowers "intended to hunt down and kill every Jew he could find," claiming Bowers was level-headed and not influenced by any delusions when he carried out the shooting.

Song also called the attack "pre-planned and premeditated," saying Bowers boasted of his committing "the worst antisemitic attack in US history."

Pittsburgh synagogue shooting incident: What next?

In the United States, a unanimous vote by jurors in a separate penalty phase of the trial is required in order to sentence a defendant to death, and the judge cannot reject the jury's vote.

In case the jurors are unable to reach a unanimous decision, the guilty is instead sentenced to life in prison. Bowers will be sentenced to death only if the jury unanimously agrees for it in the separate penalty phase of the trial.

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