Editorial: The solemn duty of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting jury
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On Monday, the trial of Robert Bowers will begin with jury selection.
The 12 people in the jury box — and the alternates who will back them up — will comprise the backbone of one of the most important trials Pittsburgh may ever see. It will decide whether Bowers is guilty or not guilty in the Tree of Life synagogue shooting that claimed the lives of 11 people.
We do not know who these jurors are yet. The pool for the federal case will be whittled down over the course of weeks. The trial could last until late July.
A matter of weeks is a long time to pick a jury. In a typical Court of Common Pleas case in Pennsylvania, a jury can be seated in just a day or two.
The length of time points to the importance of the decisions before them. The October 2018 shooting was the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history. That gives the case scope beyond the events that unfolded on the corner of Wilkins and Shady avenues.
Every criminal jury carries a heavy burden. They hold the future of the accused. They balance the facts against the events that lead up to them — the motives and the methods — to arrive at a decision about guilt.
But in the Bowers case, the jurors will hear about more. They will weigh hate in one hand and mental health in another. When it is over, they may have to judge life against death in the capital case.
While Pennsylvania juries do that periodically — and several Allegheny County juries may be faced with that soon — there is a difference because this is a federal case.
Pennsylvania has given a death sentence to more than 100 people waiting in cells but has not executed anyone in 24 years. The federal government’s last execution was in January 2021.
Serving on a jury isn’t easy. It’s a sacred trust. It’s also an indispensable part of our justice system. It is where we place our greatest faith in the ability of ordinary people to separate vengeance from truth.