Jury selection wraps in Pittsburgh synagogue massacre with testimony expected Tuesday
May 25, 2023, 3:54 PM
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jury selection concluded Thursday in the trial of a man charged with killing 11 worshippers at a Pittsburgh synagogue in the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.
Prosecutors and the defense agreed on a panel of 12 jurors and six alternatives who will hear the evidence against Robert Bowers, 50, in the 2018 massacre at Tree of Life synagogue.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Testimony is expected to begin Tuesday.
Jury selection began April 24, with each side grilling scores of potential jurors about their views on capital punishment. The jury consists of 11 women and seven men.
Bowers faces 63 counts in the Oct. 27, 2018, attack, including 11 counts of obstruction of free exercise of religion resulting in death and 11 counts of hate crimes resulting in death. Prosecutors have said Bowers made antisemitic comments at the scene of the attack and online.
Bowers, a truck driver from the Pittsburgh suburb of Baldwin, had offered to plead guilty in return for a life sentence, but federal prosecutors turned him down. Bowers’ defense attorneys also recently said he has schizophrenia and brain impairments.
