PITTSBURGH (AP) — The anti-Semitic truck driver accused of gunning down 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue pleaded not guilty on Thursday to federal charges that could put him on death row.
Robert Bowers, 46, was arraigned one day after a grand jury issued a 44-count indictment that charges him with murder, hate crimes, obstructing the practice of religion and other crimes. It was his second brief appearance in a federal courtroom since the weekend massacre at Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood.
“Yes!” Bowers said in a loud voice when asked if he understood the charges.
Authorities say Bowers raged against Jews during and after the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in American history.
Bowers, who was shot and wounded during a gun battle that injured four police officers, walked into court under his own power, his left arm heavily bandaged. He was in a wheelchair at his first court appearance on Monday.
Bowers, who is stocky and square-faced with salt-and-pepper, closely cropped hair, frowned as the charges were read but did not appear to have a reaction as a federal prosecutor announced he could face a death sentence. He told a prosecutor he had read the indictment.
One of his federal public defenders, Michael Novara, said Bowers pleaded not guilty, “as is typical at this stage of the proceeding.”
Bowers had been set for a preliminary hearing on the evidence, but federal prosecutors instead took the case to a grand jury.
The panel issued the indictment as funerals continued for the victims.
Jared Younger of Los Angeles told mourners that he waited for hours Saturday for his father to pick up his phone or let them know he was all right. The dread built all day until his sister learned their father, Irving Younger, had indeed been shot and killed.
“That waiting stage was just unbearable,” Jared Younger said at his father’s funeral Wednesday. “Saturday was the most lonely day of my life.”
Funerals were planned Thursday for Bernice and Sylvan Simon, husband and wife, and Dr. Richard Gottfried, a dentist who worked part-time at a clinic treating refugees and immigrants. The oldest victim, 97-year-old Rose Mallinger, will be honored at a service Friday. Her daughter was injured in the attack.
Friends recalled Irving Younger, 69, as a “kibbitzing, people-loving” man. He was one of the first people Rabbi Jeffrey Myers met when he came to town last year from New Jersey to lead Tree of Life.
Myers, who survived the massacre, is presiding over five funerals for seven congregants this week. He ran a few minutes late to Younger’s service because he was still at the burial for another victim, Joyce Fienberg.
“I can’t imagine the stress he’s under,” said his predecessor, Rabbi Charles “Chuck” Diamond.
As Younger’s service was wrapping up, Myers momentarily forgot to read a letter to the family that another rabbi had sent.
“After preparing for five funerals, you get a little verklempt,” Myers said.
Bowers remained jailed without bail.
The judge must be bracing themselves for one of the all-time Hail Mary explanations from the accused’s defence team to justify this plea.
Seriously, I get it, legal gamesmanship, buying time to think something up, but if I were a judge who finds out that the defence came up with nothing, I’d be taking them to task pretty severely for wasting my time.
setting up a plead bargaining deal to get the possibility of the death penalty dropped?
Of course he plead “not guilty” to charges of hate crimes. After all, in whatever passes for his mind, he was doing the world a service in saving decent White people from the hordes of immigrants, of whom, the Jews were responsible for bringing in. Simple.
Much as it pains me to imagine the place still open I’m none-the-less inclined to think the right message would be a life sentence to Gitmo for this monster and others like him.
That could change and I rather hope it does for my own peace of mind but, at the moment, the impulse to vengeance is really strong
INAL, but as was explained to me by my lawyer friends (both who teach at prominent law schools) it would be malpractice if a defense attorney allowed his client to plead guilty at arraignment. The burden of proof is on the state for a good reason: it’s a massive machine that grinds up both the innocent and the guilty. The defense exists to protect the defendant from being more fodder. There’s no reason for anyone to not force the state to meet that burden, particularly since the odds are ALWAYS against the defense from the get-go.