PITTSBURGH — The penalty phase continues in the trial against Robert Bowers, the man convicted of killing 11 people inside a Squirrel Hill synagogue in 2018.
PITTSBURGH SYNAGOGUE SHOOTING TRIAL: FULL COVERAGE ⇒
Jurors must now decide whether the 50-year-old should be sent to death row or sentenced to life in prison without parole.
The defense requested to split it into two elements with the first being the eligibility phase.
Jurors heard testimony from doctors on Tuesday about whether Bowers’ medical scans showed significant brain damage.
>>> Tree of Life, community react to guilty verdict in Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial
Jurors have seen multiple scans and images of Bowers’ brain, but on Wednesday, they heard from a doctor who spent hours meeting face-to-face with Bowers.
Dr. Siddhartha Nadkarni, a neuropsychiatrist from New Jersey who spent time interviewing and testing Bowers, told the jury that Bowers suffers from schizophrenia and epilepsy.
He testified that he suspects Bowers’ brain was damaged when he suffered from a high fever as a young child and was admitted to Children’s Hospital where records indicate he had hallucinations.
Even today, Nadkarni testified Bowers told him at times he believes ink from his prison uniform is going through his body, and into his wristband, changing the color.
“It’s a profound delusion. It’s a type of delusion that involves the breakdown of boundaries between self and world. It’s a central feature of schizophrenia,’ said Nadkarni.
The defense also presented medical records detailing how Bowers attempted or threatened to kill himself multiple times between the ages of 10 and 32.
On three of those occasions, he was involuntarily committed. And one of those times he also allegedly assaulted his mother.
“It’s very unusual to see such a severe psychiatric history in a child. He had something wrong going on with his brain at a very young age.” testified Nadkarni.
Under cross-examination, Prosecutor Eric Olshan suggested that Bowers’ smoking or drug use could have caused brain abnormalities. He said Bowers used cocaine, acid and marijuana for back pain.
Olshan then turned to the synagogue shooting.
Olshan: “Is it your testimony that he was not capable of planning and carrying out the attack that killed 11 people?”
Nadkarni said Bowers was not “incapable” of planning the attack, but said “his reasons for planning it out are unreliable in his brain.”
Nadkarni said they didn’t talk much about the shooting, but according to notes from that interview, Bowers said he was “shooting at silhouette targets” and when the shooting stopped, he said he was “in the war now.”
If you or someone you know is experiencing mental health effects from the trial, go to 1027healingpartnership.org to find help resources. As always, call 911 to report threats.
- Phone: 412-697-3534
- Email: info@1027HealingPartnership.org
- Web: 1027healingpartnership.org
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The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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