Thursday, February 27, 2025, 10:43AM |  44°
MENU
Advertisement
The Squirrel Hill synagogue that was the site of the 2018 mass shooting.
1
MORE

Lawyers are closer to picking a jury in the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial

Lucy Schaly/Post-Gazette

Lawyers are closer to picking a jury in the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial

A pool of 69 potential jurors will soon be whittled down to a final panel

The first phase of jury selection in the trial of accused Pittsburgh synagogue shooter Robert Bowers concluded Wednesday with 69 potential jurors still eligible to be seated on the final panel.

Prosecutors and defense lawyers next Thursday will begin whittling that down to an 18-person jury, with 12 jurors and six alternates. In federal death penalty cases, each side gets 20 peremptory strikes. Peremptory strikes allow attorneys to dismiss a potential juror without giving a reason or citing a cause.

Testimony in the trial will likely begin after Memorial Day.

Advertisement

In the interim, Mr. Bowers will undergo a psychiatric exam by experts hired by the prosecution. The exam was a point of contention for months, and U.S. District Judge Robert Colville ruled last week that the government could move forward with certain stipulations and restrictions.

A woman is comforted by Chaplain Bob Ossler as they pay respects outside the Tree of Life synagogue, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2018, in Squirrel Hill. Chaplain Ossler is from the First Baptist Church of Pine Island in Bokeelia, Fla.
Megan Guza
Jury set for Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial

The exam can take place over no more than 4 ½ days at the facility where Mr. Bowers is being held. Defense attorneys, the judge decided late Wednesday, will be permitted on the premises and can consult with Mr. Bowers during breaks, but they can’t sit in on or observe the examination.

Mr. Bowers, 50, faces 63 charges in the Oct. 27, 2018 killing of 11 people at a Squirrel Hill synagogue housing three different congregations: Dor Hadash, New Light and Tree of Life. Eleven worshippers were killed: Richard Gottfried, Joyce Fienberg, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil and David Rosenthal, Bernice and Sylvan Simon, Daniel Stein, Melvin Wax and Irving Younger.

Lawyers have estimated that the so-called guilt phase of the federal death penalty trial will take about three weeks. If Mr. Bowers is found guilty, the sentencing phase would last about six weeks.

Advertisement

The secondary pool of 69 jurors was drawn from 1,500 people from 13 Western Pennsylvania counties: Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Clarion, Fayette, Greene, Jefferson, Indiana, Lawrence, Mercer, Washington and Westmoreland.--

The potential jurors are about equally split between men and women, and they are mostly white.

The jury selection process was tedious but steady, with around 13 or 14 potential jurors questioned each of the 17 days. The judge and attorneys questioned around 215 potential jurors during that time.

The questioning focused mostly on the ability of potential jurors to sign their names to a death sentence if they believed the circumstances called for it. It was a question that shook some people. Several cried during questioning, and others were visibly anxious and emotional.

Jury selection, day 14, in the case against accused synagogue shooter Robert Bowers. The defendant (left), defense attorney Judy Clarke and other members of the defense team observe as a potential juror is questioned by Judge Colville (not pictured).
Megan Guza and Hallie Lauer
The Jewish community is on guard as the synagogue shooting trial looms

“This is something I have to live with for the rest of my life,” one said. “I don’t know that I could do that.”

“It is a heavy decision to take someone’s life,” another said. “I do believe, in this case, I would be able to listen to all the facts.”

Those heavy questions are what made the process a slow one — something experts predicted early on would likely be the case.

“You can have a person who would be an absolute perfect juror: fair, able to objectively view evidence, but if you say to them, ‘Would you be able to impose the death penalty?’ and they say, ‘No, I’m sorry, I have certain moral or ethical views that would prevent me from doing that,’ — they’re off the jury,” Bruce Antkowiak, a former federal prosecutor and defense attorney teaching at St. Vincent College, said ahead of the selection process.

For the defense, that means striking a balance, as they’re already starting off with a group of potential jurors who have declared their willingness to impose the death penalty.

“You have to balance that with, ‘OK, in saying that you’re willing to give it, are you also saying that you are bound and determined to give it or that you would objectively weigh everything before you would find this to be the necessary verdict,’” Mr. Antkowiak said.

First Published: May 17, 2023, 4:04 p.m.
Updated: May 18, 2023, 2:50 p.m.

RELATED
This is the Federal Courthouse in downtown Pittsburgh on Monday April 24, 2023. The long-delayed capital murder trial of Robert Bowers accused in the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue massacre will begin with jury selection beginning April 24, 2023, at the Federal Courthouse in Pittsburgh, a federal judge has ruled. Bowers, a Baldwin resident who has pleaded not guilty, could be sentenced to death if convicted of the shootings. He faces more than 60 federal charges stemming from the Oct. 27, 2018, attack at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh that killed 11 worshippers in the deadliest attack on Jewish people in U.S. history. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Megan Guza
The Pittsburgh synagogue shooter must undergo a psychiatric evaluation, judge rules
A 2019 photo of the Pittsburgh synagogue where Robert Bowers is accused of killing 11 worshipers in 2018, in the worst antisemitic attack in American history.
Megan Guza
The ‘heavy decision to take someone’s life’ has loomed over jury selection in the synagogue shooting trial
The Pittsburgh synagogue where Robert Bowers is accused of killing 11 worshippers in 2018, the worst antisemitic attack in American history.
Jonathan D. Salant
The Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial comes as antisemitism is increasingly politicized in Washington
SHOW COMMENTS (6)  
Join the Conversation
Commenting policy | How to Report Abuse
If you would like your comment to be considered for a published letter to the editor, please send it to letters@post-gazette.com. Letters must be under 250 words and may be edited for length and clarity.
Partners
Advertisement
An exterior view of the Pittsburgh Public Schools administration building as seen Thursday, Aug. 4, 2022, in Oakland.
1
news
Pittsburgh Public Schools moving forward with controversial policy changes
Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Bailey Falter delivers during the first inning of a spring training baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025, in Bradenton, Fla.
2
sports
3 takeaways from Pirates split-squad contests against Orioles, Braves
Acrisure Stadium, home of the Pittsburgh Steelers, is shown from Mt. Washington on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025.
3
sports
Steelers dealt low marks again on NFL player report card
Mississippi's JJ Pegues, right, runs past a Mississippi State defender into the end zone for a touchdown during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, in Oxford, Miss.
4
sports
Meet J.J. Pegues, the most interesting prospect in this year’s NFL draft and possible Steelers target
 Jeff Bezos among his peers, with Mark Zuck­er­berg to his right and Sundar Pichai and Elon Musk to his left dur­ing Don­ald Trump’s Inau­gu­ra­tion.
5
opinion
David Mills: What Jeff Bezos really wants
The Squirrel Hill synagogue that was the site of the 2018 mass shooting.  (Lucy Schaly/Post-Gazette)
Lucy Schaly/Post-Gazette
Advertisement
LATEST news
Advertisement
TOP
Email a Story