Robert Bowers, who killed 11 people on October 27, 2018 at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to death Wednesday, August 2, by a federal jury. It is the deadliest attack on Jews in US history. The 12 members of the jury voted unanimously in favor of the death penalty against the 50-year-old white driver, convicted of carrying out 11 murders, aggravated by the qualification of an anti-Semitic act.
This sentence should then be formally pronounced by a federal judge. However, since the Department of Justice has instituted a moratorium on federal executions, this sentence may not be carried out. The issue of the death penalty was central in this case. As early as 2019, the Pittsburgh federal prosecutor warned he would seek the death penalty for the killer, citing his “lack of remorse” and “hate and contempt” for Jews.
According to the Associated Press, this is the first federal death sentence handed down under President Joe Biden.
