Robert Bowers, convicted gunman in Pittsburgh synagogue attack, arrives on death row
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (KDKA) - The Pittsburgh synagogue shooter who was formally sentenced to death last month for killing 11 people in 2018 has now arrived on death row at an Indiana prison.
Robert Bowers arrived about a week ago in the U.S. penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.
While it isn't known when he will be put to death, whatever days he has left will spent largely alone and in a small cell.
Bowers was sentenced to death on August 3, one day after a jury determined that capital punishment was appropriate for the perpetrator of the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in United States history.
It was the first federal death sentence imposed during the Biden Administration. However, President Biden pledged during his 2020 campaign to end capital punishment.
The Justice Department has placed a moratorium on federal executions and has declined to authorize the death penalty in hundreds of new cases where it could apply.
However, federal prosecutors said that death was the appropriate punishment for this gunman, citing the victims and his hate-based targeting of a religious community.
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Still, now begins a waiting period for this killer, who will likely spend years on federal death row, even if the Justice Department lifts the moratorium on executions.
All federal executions in the United States are carried out in a facility in Terre Haute. Thirteen people were executed there between 2020 and 2021.
Meanwhile, here in Pittsburgh, the community continues to heal and remains strong with much planned for the synagogue complex in the future.
One big thing the community is looking to create in the space is a memorial and a center for fighting antisemitism.
