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Robert Bowers Trial category, Page 2

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Synagogue shooter would live in near isolation in supermax prison if spared death penalty, expert says
If Robert Bowers is sentenced to life in prison, he almost certainly would go to what is called the ADX in Florence, Colo. The administrative maximum-security prison, the only supermax facility in the federal Bureau of Prisons, is reserved for the most notorious prisoners, terrorists and national security threats. Bowers,...
Judge denies request to exhume corpse of Pittsburgh synagogue shooter’s father
The federal judge presiding over the trial of the man convicted of killing 11 people at a Squirrel Hill synagogue denied a motion by the defense to have their client’s father’s body exhumed. Defense attorneys for Robert Bowers, 50, of Baldwin, filed a motion Tuesday seeking to have Bowers’ father’s...
Witness testifies that Pittsburgh synagogue shooter saved his life as a teen
When Pittsburgh synagogue shooter Robert Bowers was a teenager, he saved a friend who was struggling to stay afloat in the Monongahela River. Frank Ray testified Tuesday in federal court that he and other boys went to find a rope swing hanging underneath the Glenwood Bridge and go swimming in...
Defense seeks to exhume corpse of Pittsburgh synagogue shooter’s father to verify paternity
Defense attorneys for the man found guilty of killing 11 people at a Squirrel Hill synagogue are seeking to have his father’s body exhumed to confirm paternity. Robert Bowers, 50, of Baldwin, was found guilty of all 63 counts against him for the Oct. 27, 2018, attack on the Tree...
Witnesses detail synagogue shooter’s family history of suicide and abuse
Naomi Grimm never met her second cousin, Robert Bowers. She never even knew he existed until after he killed 11 people at a Squirrel Hill synagogue in 2018. Still, Grimm, a home health aide from Ohio, testified for the defense on Monday, recounting for the jury a pervasive family history...
Victim impact testimony, gunman’s troubled past highlight 6th week of Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial
They were grandparents and siblings, children and spouses. They were doctors and dentists, nurses and accountants. They were 11 people who were supposed to be safe in a place that they loved. Last week marked the start of the final, sentence-­selection phase in the trial of Robert G. Bowers, 50,...
Expert details Pittsburgh synagogue shooter’s troubled childhood ‘laden with trauma’
Time and again, Robert Bowers’ mother was told her young son needed help. When he was an infant, both parents threatened to kill him. When he was a toddler, his speech regressed so much he stopped talking altogether. When he had a rash as a young boy, a doctor thought...
Court releases family photos of Pittsburgh synagogue shooting victims
There were more than 11 victims when a gunman attacked congregants inside the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill on Oct. 27, 2018. Families and friends of those killed. Injured congregants. Police officers and first responders. This week, as the trial entered its sentencing phase, government prosecutors told their...
‘It’s always there’: Families of synagogue shooting victims reflect on what’s lost
There’s a weed growing in a bucket on Pittsburgh police SWAT Officer Tim Matson’s porch. It saved his life. Months after he was shot multiple times responding to an active shooter at the Tree of Life synagogue building in Squirrel Hill, Matson said Wednesday, he remained in a dark place....
Family members describe ‘profound’ loss of victims in Pittsburgh synagogue shooting
Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz believed it was better to be kind than right. Bernice and Sylvan Simon could have been the poster children for a happy marriage. Joyce Fienberg doted so much she reminded her son of Mary Poppins. Rose Mallinger loved to do the chicken dance. Irv Younger was so...
‘Such a huge void’: Survivors of synagogue shooting victims testify in trial’s final phase 
For weeks, everyone in the courtroom had become accustomed to the pictures of the victims. They were displayed frequently. State-issued ID photos, sometimes smiling, but often stoic, on a blue background. On Monday, the pictures changed. As the government told the jurors about each of the lives lost Oct. 27,...
Pittsburgh synagogue shooting case turns to ‘most important decision’
It took a jury less than two hours last week to decide that Robert Bowers had the intent to kill. He plotted and planned. He practiced. When it was over, he bragged about it. Now, that same jury must decide whether he pays with his life. “The other two decisions...
How DOJ made different death penalty decisions in the Pittsburgh synagogue and Texas mall massacres
CHICAGO — Two separate shootings 2,000 miles apart. One killed 11 at a Pittsburgh synagogue. The other killed 23 at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. Both were motivated by hate. Both involved gunmen who later claimed mental illness. But earlier this year, the Justice Department authorized the death penalty...
Jury: Pittsburgh synagogue attacker eligible for death penalty
Robert Bowers is eligible for the death penalty. Whether a jury will impose it will be determined over the next few weeks. On Thursday, after deliberating for less than two hours, a jury of seven women and five men found that the man who killed 11 people at a Pittsburgh...
Jury begins deliberating whether Pittsburgh synagogue shooter is eligible for death penalty
The prosecution told jurors they had all the evidence they needed to find that Robert Bowers intended to kill. He spent months planning the Tree of Life synagogue attack. He stockpiled weapons and ammunition. He announced his intentions online. Assistant U.S. Attorney Soo Song said in her closing argument Wednesday...
Defense tries to discredit expert witness who says Pittsburgh synagogue attacker isn’t mentally ill
Robert Bowers’ defense attorneys tried Tuesday to discredit the government’s final expert witness on mental health by questioning him about his billing rates, a 20-year-old case where he was investigated for perjury, and presentations he’s made in the past. The defense cross-examined nationally renowned psychiatrist Dr. Park Dietz for three...
Pittsburgh synagogue attacker had capacity to plan, intent to kill, expert witness says
The government’s final witness in the eligibility phase of Robert Bowers’ trial testified Monday that the man who killed 11 people at a Squirrel Hill synagogue had the capacity to plan and the intent to kill, making him a candidate for execution. Dr. Park Dietz, a nationally renowned psychiatrist, cited...
5th week of Pittsburgh synagogue attacker’s trial featured dueling testimony from experts
The case against the man convicted of killing 11 people at a Squirrel Hill synagogue will resume Monday with jurors continuing to listen to testimony from mental health experts in the trial’s eligibility phase. Robert Bowers, 50, of Baldwin was found guilty of killing members of the Tree of Life-Or...
Government expert says synagogue shooter has personality disorder, not mental illness
A nationally renowned psychiatrist who has evaluated some of the most notorious criminals of the 20th and 21st centuries believes that the man who killed 11 people at a Squirrel Hill synagogue does not have any diagnosable mental illness, including schizophrenia. What Robert Bowers does have, though, that expert said,...
Pittsburgh synagogue attacker was not delusional, did not have schizophrenia, prosecution witness says
The man who killed 11 people at a Squirrel Hill synagogue told a government expert in behavioral neurology six weeks ago that if he could do it all over again, he would have done more research prior to the attack to ensure there were more victims. Dr. Ryan Darby, who...
Pittsburgh synagogue attacker has high IQ, problems with social cues, expert says
The man who killed 11 people in a Squirrel Hill synagogue has an IQ in the top 10% but has deficits in some areas of cognitive function, including his brain’s processing speed, recognizing faces and social cues. Those characteristics, a defense expert said Monday, can be consistent with schizophrenia, a...
4th week of Pittsburgh synagogue attack trial focused on mental health
Defense experts used words like psychotic, paranoid, illogical and delusional to describe Robert Bowers. Prosecutors used other words: methodical, calculated, premeditated, intentional. Bowers, 50, of Baldwin, was found guilty last month of killing 11 people as they worshipped at a Squirrel Hill synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018. Before Bowers can be...
Pittsburgh synagogue attacker viewed himself as a warrior, victims as enemy combatants, psychologist says
Robert Bowers didn’t realize he’s mentally ill. The Baldwin man — who violently attacked a Squirrel Hill synagogue Oct. 27, 2018, killing 11 congregants — suffered from mental health problems as early as age 10. He spent 9 months in three Pittsburgh-area psychiatric hospitals at 13. He tried to kill...
‘I think he was blatantly psychotic,’ psychologist says of Pittsburgh synagogue attacker
Robert Bowers recounted to the forensic psychologist interviewing him in explicit, sometimes graphic detail the steps he took — not only in choosing his target for attack, but in how he methodically moved through the Tree of Life synagogue as he carried out the attack. How he wanted to create...
Pittsburgh synagogue attacker had ‘very serious mental health history from a very young age,’ expert says
“He moves through the world under a vague feeling of threat and paranoia.” “He is quick to agitation.” “Active psychosis makes it impossible for him to assess stimuli and read the world appropriately.” All of those findings, an expert in neuropsychiatry and epilepsy testified Wednesday, mean that Robert Bowers could...


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