I had that epiphany every reporter longs for, of a story bigger than the sum of its already major elements.
DIASPORA AFFAIRS: Pittsburgh’s heartbreak has sparked a transformation in the US Jewish community.
The sentencing hearing comes a day after a jury unanimously voted for the death penalty after finding Bowers guilty on 63 counts.
While responses varied, most emphasized the strength and resilience of Pittsburgh's Jewish community.
It’s not clear why the jury wanted to see the weapons, but in weighing a death sentence, one of the statutory aggravating factors jurors must consider is the risk the gunman’s attack posed to others.
Under Jewish law, the death penalty is an option for some offenses but tradition holds that it was rarely if ever meted out.
Federal prosecutors charged Bowers with 63 counts, including 11 counts of obstruction of free exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death.
The defense experts, Park Dietz said Monday, “simply mistook every ordinary widespread white separatist beliefs as delusions because they were not familiar with them.”
We must be clear: These acts of mass violence are simply the tip of the iceberg.
The brain abnormalities are a key part of the defense’s strategy to keep their client, Robert Bowers, off of death row.
JPOST Digital Library
