A makeshift memorial sits outside the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania [File: Matt Rourke/The Associated Press]
Pittsburgh, June 18 (RHC)-- A man has been found guilty of a hate-fuelled 2018 attack on a synagogue in the United States city of Pittsburgh that killed 11 people. The mass shooting on October 27, 2018, at the Tree of Life synagogue represented the deadliest targeting of Jews in US history.
The verdict was all but assured after the lawyers for the accused man, truck driver Robert Bowers, conceded at the trial’s outset that he attacked and killed worshippers.
Bowers was tried on 63 criminal counts, including hate crimes resulting in death and obstruction of the free exercise of religion resulting in death. He was found guilty on all counts.
Prosecutors had previously refused a deal offered by the defence, which would have seen the 50-year-old Bowers plead guilty in return for a life sentence.
Prosecutors instead opted to take the case to trial and pursue the death penalty. Jurors are set to determine if Bowers should be sentenced to death at a later date.
