Jurors in the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial heard a series of contradicting views on Tuesday, as testimony came to a conclusion in the "eligibility" phase of the trial. The jury will hear closing arguments tomorrow and then begin their deliberations.
The primary question jurors will consider is whether Robert Bowers, who was convicted by the same jury last month of killing 11 Jewish worshipers in 2018, had the ability to form an intent to kill. If the jury decides he did, the trial will move into a sentencing phase where the jury will hear testimony about whether he deserves the death penalty.
The prosecution's lead psychiatric expert, Dr. Park Dietz, testified for the third day in a row that Bowers suffers from a psychological disorder, rather than a mental illness rooted in his biology. Bowers doesn't believe he has a mental illness either. But several psychological experts hired by Bowers defense attorneys testified earlier that he does suffer from schizophrenia.
Defense lawyers questioned the reliability of Dietz's testimony in light of the fact that two decades ago Dietz admitted that he testified incorrectly in the trial of a mother who killed her children. As a result of Dietz's mistaken testimony, the verdict was overturned in a mistrial. "That's the worst thing that's happened in my career," Dietz said today. "I went on national television and apologized for it."
The defense attorney, Michael Burt, asked Dietz whether being employed by prosecutors influenced his judgment of Bowers' mental health. Dietz said that he and four other experts employed by his company have collectively billed more than $380,000 for their work on this case. Burt hired Dietz to work as a defense witness on a previous case for $1,000 per hour, Burt said. Prosecutors later pointed out that Burt was admitting that he had hired Dietz, even after Dietz had been publicly criticized for his mistaken testimony.
Just as defense lawyers tried to discredit Dietz, Dietz said that Bowers' history of mental health problems shouldn't just be taken at face value. Defense experts highlighted a history of suicide threats and psychiatric hospitalizations in Bowers' medical history. Bowers' mother, Barbara Saiter, was often the one who recommended that Bowers be admitted, Dietz said.
Saiter suffered from her own mental illnesses at times, Dietz said, and may have wanted Bowers to be hospitalized to get him out of her home. He said some of the medical records the defense relied upon were incomplete and some medical experts were too credulous of the mother's claims. "This is a mother often trying to get him hospitalized and taken away," Dietz testified. "I'm not saying whether it was for his benefit or hers. But that was the thrust of her efforts."
Burt challenged Dietz about his conclusion that Bowers' beliefs are not delusional because they are shared by other members of a white supremacist subculture. Burt pointed to a prior case in which Dietz testified that the serial killer, Jonathan Haynes, was schizophrenic. During that trial, Dietz testified that some of Haynes’ antisemitic views were examples of delusional beliefs. Haynes held the view that some Jewish people were dying their hair blonde and wearing blue contact lenses in order to procreate with non-Jewish people after World War II.
"They are two different people with two different conditions even if some of their beliefs talk about Aryans and white genocide,” Dietz said.
The two men were different people, Dietz said, and Bowers' beliefs could all be traced back to the white supremacist culture he was immersed in, whereas Haynes’ beliefs showed delusional features.
"The uniqueness of the belief system, its idiosyncratic nature, its personal nature, are all clues it springs from the mind of the afflicted rather than the minds of the group," Dietz said.
Defense final witness
The defense called Dr. Peter Hauber, the psychiatrist at the Allegheny County Jail who interviewed Bowers two days after the shooting in 2018, as its final witness. And through a series of questions, Hauber admitted that his conclusions about Bowers, drawn from an hour-long interview through a jail cell, should not be considered the final word.
Hauber's report did not identify any delusions and in fact said Bowers' beliefs appeared to be learned. But Hauber testified in court that he should've been more restrained in his conclusions. If he could do it over, Hauber said he would have written that there was a need to study Bowers more to better determine his underlying psychological issues.
After the jurors left court, the defense lawyers reiterated their objection to the final instructions the jury will receive tomorrow. Judge Robert Colville ruled against the way defense lawyers proposed characterizing the word "intent" in their opening arguments. The prosecution had objected to how the defense lawyers implied the jury needed to find "sufficient intent" beyond the four very specific legal definitions of "intent" that prosecutors say are all that is needed to be proven.
But Burt said this leaves the defense at a disadvantage because their entire case the past few weeks had been based on the definition of "intent" that the jury heard during opening statements.
"We are essentially left with not arguing our main theory of defense," Burt said.