A jury found Robert Powers guilty of all 63 counts related to the 2018 massacre, the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history.
A man has been found guilty of a 2018 hate attack on a synagogue in the U.S. city of Pittsburgh that killed 11 people.
The October 27, 2018 mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue was the deadliest incident against Jews in U.S. history.
The verdict, announced Monday, was all but affirmed after lawyers for accused truck driver Robert Powers admitted at the start of the trial that he assaulted and killed worshipers.
Bowles is on trial on 63 criminal charges, including a hate crime resulting in death and obstruction of religious freedom resulting in death. He was found guilty on all counts.
Prosecutors had previously rejected a deal proposed by the defense that would have seen Powers, 50, plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence.
Instead, prosecutors opted to take the case to trial and pursue the death penalty. Jurors will decide at a later date whether Powers should be sentenced to death.
Bowles, who has backed anti-Semitic rhetoric, is said to be targeting synagogues because he believes Jews are helping immigrants come to the United States.
Prosecutors allege Powers posted anti-Semitic content online and chanted “All Jews must die!” as he stormed the synagogue brandishing an AR-15 semi-automatic weapon. Most of the victims were elderly.
In closing arguments, prosecutor Mary Hahn called Powers “full of hatred for the Jews.”
“That’s what drove him to take action,” she said.
However, public defender Elisa Long argued that Powers was blinded by “absurd and irrational” beliefs about immigrants and not necessarily motivated by anti-Semitic hatred or disrupting religious practices.
Long said Bowles adheres to the “great replacement” conspiracy theory that white people are being replaced by nonwhite immigrants. She said Powers put the Jewish refugee nonprofit, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), at the center of the conspiracy theory.
The group’s slogan is “Welcome the stranger. Protect the refugee.”
Still, Long said in his closing arguments that there was “no justification” for Powers’ actions and acknowledged the pain of the survivors.
This anguish was on full display in survivor statements and recordings of 911 calls played during the trial.
Dan Legg, who was shot in the leg during the attack, said he lay on the floor thinking his wound would be fatal. Finally seeing someone walking by, he raised his hand.
“It was either a helper or a shooter,” he recalls. “I’m dying, I have nothing to lose.”
“This one’s still alive,” he heard the first responders say.
