Family members of those killed and wounded in the 2018 mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue will speak in court one last time Thursday before the gunman, Robert Bowers, is formally sentenced to death.
A federal jury on Wednesday unanimously agreed on the death sentence after deliberating for about 10 hours over two days. It's the first federal death sentence under the Biden administration, which has imposed a moratorium on executions.
Bowers would have been sentenced to life in prison without parole had the jury not arrived at a unanimous decision.
The victim impact statements and formal death sentence represent the capstone of a horrific saga that began on October 27, 2018, when Bowers burst into the Tree of Life synagogue and shot people with an AR-15-style rifle. Eleven people were killed and six others, including four responding police officers, were wounded.
Prosecutors argued the targeted, well-planned shooting -- the deadliest-ever attack on Jewish people in the United States -- was motivated by Bowers' hatred toward the community. His defense argued that he suffered from mental illness and delusions, but the jury rejected those arguments in delivering the sentence.
The families of victims will speak in court Thursday, offering impact statements. Judge Robert Colville will then deliver the formal sentence.
The sentencing brings some finality to the long legal process, Audrey Glickman, who was leading a service at the time of the shooting, told CNN's Danny Freeman.
"There really is nothing happy. There was a crime committed and there was a criminal sentenced," Glickman said. "There is no happy in those two negatives, but the chapter is closed."
Glickman called the gunman's actions "evil."
"It wasn't just spraying bullets into people in a synagogue," Glickman said Wednesday. "It was viciously murdering each individual up close and personal."
The 11 people killed in October 2018 were Irving Younger, 69; Melvin Wax, 87; Rose Mallinger, 97; the married couple Bernice and Sylvan Simon, 84 and 86; Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz, 66; Joyce Fienberg, 75; Richard Gottfried, 65; Daniel Stein, 71; and the brothers Cecil and David Rosenthal, 59 and 54.
"Hate crimes like this one inflict irreparable pain on individual victims and their loved ones and lead entire communities to question their very belonging," US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement Wednesday after the jury's sentencing decision. "All Americans deserve to live free from the fear of hate-fueled violence and the Justice Department will hold accountable those who perpetrate such acts.
What survivors have said of the verdict
During trial last month, some of the victims' family members took the stand and shared heart-wrenching impact statements, with some breaking down in tears as they spoke about their loved ones.
Andrea Wedner, whose mother Rose Mallinger died in the shooting, said the sentencing gave her a "great sense of relief."
"People need to know if they're going to harm somebody that they're going to get punished for it, and this is telling the world that we're not going to stand for this," Wedner told CNN.
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, a survivor of the attack at his Tree of Life congregation, said the jury decision represents the end of one chapter and the start of another.
"Now that the trial is nearly over and the jury has recommended a death sentence, it is my hope that we can begin to heal and move forward," he said in a statement. "As we do, I have my faith, bolstered by the embrace and respect with which my community has been treated by our government and our fellow citizens. For this and the seriousness with which the jury took its duty, I remain forever grateful."
Meanwhile, leaders of the New Light Congregation acknowledged many of their members preferred the gunman spend the rest of his life in prison rather than receive the death penalty. However, co-presidents Stephen Cohen and Barbara Caplan agreed with prosecutors' move.
"Life in prison without parole would allow the shooter to celebrate his deed for many years," they wrote. "New Light Congregation accepts the jury's decision and believes that, as a society, we need to take a stand that this act requires the ultimate penalty under the law."
Squirrel Hill Stands Against Gun Violence, a gun safety advocacy group founded by three members of Dor Hadash after the shooting, issued a statement on gun laws in the US.
"We hold responsible, not simply the shooter, a damaged and angry man who should never have had access to deadly weapons, but those politicians and legislators who have fought against common sense gun laws, having seen the overwhelming evidence that they would save lives, but too cowardly or too financially vested with the gun lobby to do the right thing," the group said.
"We hold responsible every legislator and politician who has uttered hateful white nationalist rhetoric or has shared memes or other social media content amplifying the 'great replacement theory,' the unfounded conspiracy theory that a flood of non-white immigrants, organized by Jews, are coming to replace the white race. And we hold responsible those who continue to vote for such political candidates."
