“There is no disagreement, no dispute and there will be no doubt who shot and killed the 11 congregants and wounded several others,” said Judy Clarke.
The defense attorney referred to her client, whose trial began on May 30 and is accused of killing and injuring Jews at the Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha Synagogue in Pittsburgh on Oct. 27, 2018.
Though the attorney referred to the “loss and devastation caused by Robert Bowers,” Bowers, 50, has pleaded not guilty to 63 federal charges, reported the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Clarke called him a “quiet, socially awkward man who didn’t have many friends.”
“In response to the question ‘Why did you do this,’ Mr. Bowers spewed forth his state of mind, his intent and his motive,” Clarke told the jury. “I’m going to show you these statements, because they’re going to help you understand his irrational motive and his misguided intent.”
“The tragedy that brings us together today is almost impossible to grasp,” Clarke added. “It’s incomprehensible. It’s inexcusable.”
Judge Robert Colville is presiding over the trial, which began at 9 a.m.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Soo Song described the alleged events of the day. “He pulled his car right up front and parked in a handicap spot,” she said. “He brought an arsenal with him.”
“The defendant had moved methodically through the synagogue to find the Jews he hated and kill them,” Song added.
The jury heard from two witnesses for the prosecution: a 911 dispatcher who took two calls during the shooting, and a 911 worker, who came in that day (her day off) to make copies of the recorded calls.
