Week 7 recap: Defense offers two dozen witnesses in effort to save synagogue shooters' life

Over the past two months, 130 people have testified as part of the trial for the man convicted of killing 11 people at a Squirrel Hill synagogue.

They have described the terror inside the Tree of Life building on Oct. 27, 2018.

They have spoken lovingly of those killed.

They have recounted the heroics of the Pittsburgh police officers who responded that day.

They have described the troubled childhood of Robert Bowers and his history of mental illness.

They have said that he is schizophrenic.

They have said that he is not.

This week, a jury of seven women and five men will have to decide whether all of that testimony is enough to impose a death sentence on the defendant, or spare him with a sentence of life in prison with no chance for release.

The final, penalty selection phase of trial, is expected to move into closing arguments on Monday afternoon.

The victims, who were members of the Tree of Life-Or L’Simcha, Dor Hadash and New Light congregations, were Rose Mallinger, 97; Bernice Simon, 84, and her husband, Sylvan Simon, 86; brothers David Rosenthal, 54, and Cecil Rosenthal, 59; Dan Stein, 71; Irving Younger, 69; Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz, 66; Joyce Fienberg, 75; Melvin Wax, 87; and Richard Gottfried, 65.

Below is a summary of the witnesses last week, their testimony in the case and how long they were on the stand.

Trial Day 30

Dr. Katherine Porterfield (on the stand 1 hour, 40 minutes)

Dr. Porterfield, who conducted a psychosocial history on Bowers and was continuing testimony from the previous week, told the jury that Bowers had a chaotic home life as a child. His mother, who moved in and out of relationships, told Porterfield she was ashamed of how she raised her son and felt incapable of parenting him.

The defendant’s mother used to cut herself in front of her son, including on her arms, legs and abdomen.

Bolt told her son, “‘At least you’ll know why you’re messed up,’” Porterfield testified. “It was almost comforting to feel pain.”

25. Naomi Grimm, (on the stand 56 minutes )

Bowers’ second cousin, Grimm testified about their extended family and a pervasive history of abuse, neglect and mental illness.

She told the jury that Bowers’ great-grandparents placed all nine of their children in the McCullough Home for children in 1931. Bowers’ grandmother, Patricia, was 3 years old at the time.

Grimm told the jury that the children were abused there, and many of them went on to be abusive themselves.

Of the nine, five went on to have mental illness, alcoholism or be sexually abusive.

“We all have a certain amount of mental illness because of how they were raised,” she said. “Because of the abuse they took, we’re kind of a reflection of that abuse.”

She told the jury that her grandfather died in a state psychiatric hospital in Ohio and said that her aunt, who had been in the children’s home, was hospitalized repeatedly. An uncle, she recounted, was a severe alcoholic and sexually abused women and children. Another aunt, who was married and spent six years in a traveling circus, at one time lived with her husband and their five children in a chicken coop.

An uncle used newspapers to cover the windows of his home and raised two boys who were non-verbal and lived in group homes or state hospitals.

Grimm’s cousin, who was in foster care with a police officer had a disagreement with the man and burned down their home and the jail that they lived above.

26. Jace Wingard, (on the stand 20 minutes )

Wingard went to Faith Community Christian School with the defendant from 1979 to 1983.

He remembered Bowers was a loner and quiet. He also told the jury the defendant ate chalk dust out of the tray to get attention.

27. Dennis Kavanaugh, (on the stand 22 minutes)

Kavanaugh was Bowers’ teacher in in 1981. He told the jury he remembered the defendant becoming visibly upset over a timed math competition. He also recalled Bowers telling him once, “‘I can’t touch that kind of paper. I had to go to the hospital once because of that kind of paper.’”

“That’s pretty striking — the kind of thing a teacher would remember,” he said.

28. Dr. Earl James Brink, (on the stand 1 hour)

Brink is a retired psychiatrist who worked as the chief of psychiatry at McKeesport Hospital from 1969 to 1986. Although he did not remember Bowers being a patient there in 1985, he testified from medical records that he reviewed.

The defendant had been transferred from Jefferson Hospital on Sep. 23, 1985, for probable depression with impulse control and a previous possible suicide attempt.

The records showed Bowers was quiet and withdrawn.Brink wrote in them at the time that Bowers ought to be evaluated for incipient schizophrenia.

“I didn’t know what was coming, and that was a possibility,” Brink said.

Bowers remained there for 17 days before being transferred to Southwood Psychiatric Hospital.

29. Dr. Alan Axelson, (on the stand 44 minutes)

Dr. Axelson is a child and adolescent psychiatrist who ran Southwood Psychiatric Hospital in 1985.

He also testified from records about Bowers’ stay there. He had been diagnosed with atypical depression, and notes showed he had previously been preoccupied with suicide. The defendant remained at Southwood for 41 days and was placed on antidepressants, which appeared to have worked, as Bowers had become less isolated and seemed to be enjoying group activities. He left there and was transferred to Bradley Center on Nov. 22, 1985.

30. Ashley Hatcher Peralta, (on the stand 23 minutes)

An investigator with the federal public defender’s office, Hatcher-Peralta told the jury that after Bowers’ apartment was released by the FBI, she found what appeared to be the envelope that previously contained his father’s suicide note.

It was labeled, “My Last Words by Randall G. Bowers.

Randall Bowers killed himself on Oct. 23, 1979, with a shotgun in public park in Forest County.

He left a 10-page letter to his mom, which began, “Dear Mom, I just want to say I’m sorry about this.”

At the time, he was facing rape charges in Pittsburgh and believed he would go to prison.

Day 31

31. Gary Phillips, (on the stand 32 minutes)

Phillips worked at Bradley Center for 38 years, retiring in 2018.

Also testifying from medical records, he told the jury that Bowers was listed as having a major depressive episode; being unmanageable at home; aggression toward mother and other children; poor social skills, oppositional and bizarre behavior.

The records showed Bowers improvement during his seven-month stay — from November 1985 to June 1986. He was taken off the antidepressants. cooperated in therapy and did well in school.

“He was ready to return home, and presenting problems had been resolved,” Phillips recounted.

32. Martina Mock, (on the stand 43 minutes )

Mock worked at Bradley Center as an educator from 1979 to 1990 and described the daily routine and schedule there.

She did not remember Bowers as a resident but also reviewed his records.

They showed his conduct was “good to excellent,” and that his interest in classes had improved and that he was receptive to teacher suggestions.

“He adjusted to the point where he could function in a regular school,” she said.

33. Sandra Block, (on the stand 13 minutes)

Block is a psychotherapist who worked from Mon Yough Community Health in the 1980s. Bowers was referred to her after his release from Southwood. She recommended ongoing counseling, but his mother decided it was not necessary, she said.

“I see Robert as a very angry, frustrated and sad child,” she wrote. “In light of this family’s history of psychopathology, their current unresolved conflicts and Robert’s history of acting out behavior, I believe professional intervention is highly indicated.”

34. Frank Ray, (on the stand 21 minutes )

Ray was friends with Bowers as a teen and recounted their time together living in the same apartment complex.

There was a group of kids who rode a dirt bike behind the property and often hung out together.

Ray recounted a time when they went swimming in the Monongahela River, jumping off a rope swing under the Glenwood Bridge. Ray couldn’t swim well, and as they were heading back to shore, started to struggle.

Ray yelled for help, and while one friend told him to swim harder, Bowers swam back to Ray, put an arm around him and helped him to shore.

“I’m fairly certain I wouldn’t have made it to shore if he wasn’t there,” Ray said. “He probably saved my life that day.”

Ray told the jury that Bowers was known amongst their friends as being able to make explosives, which they then detonated for fun.

“It was more for the show of it than the destruction it would cause,” Ray said.

He also recounted what Bowers’ mother was like at the time. The few times he was at their apartment, Ray said the woman would shower for hours, leaving the bathroom door open with a television blaring on a cart in the doorway.

There were also bags of Oreos all over the apartment he said, but they weren’t allowed to touch them.

35. Kelly McKinley, (on the stand 25 minutes)

McKinley, who was two years younger than Bowers, went to visit him at Mercy Hospital after he burned himself with grain alcohol as he tried to light a cigarette. She didn’t know him but felt compelled to visit to show people he cared about him.

McKinley, who said she was never Bowers’ girlfriend, told the jury Bowers wrote that he loved her on a white board in his hospital room. He couldn’t talk and was wrapped head to toe with gauze.

She later visited him in the psychiatric ward at the former St. Francis Hospital in Lawrenceville where he was taken after the incident with the burns.

Bowers came up with a plan to escape the hospital as he and McKinley were in the car with his mom on a day pass.

They leapt out of the car and ran, although they were both caught within a short time period.

36. Patricia Diggs, (on the stand 18 minutes )

Diggs met Bowers’ mother at their church and told the jury she once loaned her $50 for food because she knew they had very little.

She learned later that the woman spent the money on Clinique cosmetics.

37. Marty Samuels, (on the stand 32 minutes)

Samuels worked at St. Francis Hospital at the time Bowers was there.

He described the facility but said he had no recollection of the defendant, who was a patient in 1989 and 1990.

38. Ronald Stone, (on the stand 20 minutes)

A retired Pittsburgh Public Schools teacher, Stone also taught at St. Francis Hospital.

He did not remember Bowers, either.

39. Barbara Cingel (on the stand 19 minutes)

Cingel was a teacher and guidance counselor at Baldwin High School for 35 years. She told the jury she remembered Bowers’ mother, describing her as quiet and withdrawn.

She also remembered the defendant as being very quiet, respectful and not sharing his feelings.

Bowers dropped out in 11th grade but earned his GED in 1991.

40. Jason Erb, (on the stand 22 minutes)

Erb, who works for PAM Trucking, testified that Bowers worked for the company from October 2008 through May 2010 and again from March 2015 to March 2016.

Bowers did well on his written and driving exams for the company and was considered reliable. When he quit in 2015, the paperwork notes that he was eligible for rehire because he left under good circumstances.

41. Michael McLellan, (on the stand 24 minutes)

McLellan was Bowers’ supervisor at Community Living and Support Services from September 2010 to August 2011. He provided care to residents.

He described the defendant as reliable and having gone above and beyond for the residents, including spending extra time with them. Even after Bowers left that job, McLellan said, he still would call to check in on two of the men he cared for.

Day 32

42. Shari Dodge, (on the stand 13 minutes )

Dodge testified that she lived on the same street as Bowers when he lived with his grandfather in Whitehall from around 2005 to 2014.

Once, when a suspicious van was on their street, Bowers confronted the driver, showing concern for the children in the neighborhood.

It turned out, Dodge said, that the person was an insurance investigator conducting surveillance on a neighbor’s house.

43. Jeffrey Dillinger, (on the stand 32 minutes)

Dillinger was the pastor at Whitehall Church of Christ for 24 years, including in November 2016 when Bowers started attending.

Bowers had received a postcard in the mail from the church two years earlier and kept it. He met with Dillinger several times weekly for Bible study, initially asking if they could study the Book of Revelation, which Dillinger discouraged.

He gave the defendant a 97-page booklet to read, which Bowers did, and eventually baptized him on Dec. 21, 2016.

Bowers last attended the church in April 2017.

44. John Edens, (on the stand 2 hours 56 minutes )

A professor of clinical psychology and forensic and legal issues at Texas A&M, Edens testified as an expert in the interpretation of the Personality Assessment Inventory, a psychological test administered to Bowers.

It appeared the defendant responded defensively to the questions asked of him to purposely make himself look better, he said.

“The PAI results would not be informative as to whether a person would have a diagnosis of schizophrenia or not,” Edens said.

On cross-examination, Edens noted that the defense experts are the ones who offered Bowers’ PAI scores.

45. Adam Pry, (on the stand 33 minutes)

Pry is a corrections officer at Butler County Prison and works on the Restricted Housing Unit.

He said Bowers is a model inmate who never complaints.

“He always goes right in (to his cell),” Pry said. “We have no issues. He’s very compliant.”

He’s never heard Bowers question an officer’s authority and said he is always respectful. Although there’s a small, indoor recreation area, Pry said he’s never seen Bowers use it. The defendant spends about 22 hours day in his cell.

Bowers, who he said has a flat affect, doesn’t appear to mind being there. His cell always is neat and tidy with the bed made.

“He’s meticulous,” Pry said.

46. Jeff Kengerski, (on the stand 34 minutes)

Kengerski, a captain at the prison, said Bowers has never had a disciplinary infraction.

“We call him Uncle Bob,” Kengerski said. “It’s like having your uncle in the unit. It’s just a friendly face.”

He said Bowers once asked him where he would go if the United States ended up with too many immigrants.

Kengerski answered, “Canada.”

“That’s been our joke for years,” he said.

47. Maureen Baird, (on the stand 1 hour 17 minutes)

Baird retired from the federal Bureau of Prisons in 2016 after a 27-year career.

She now serves as a consultant.

She testified that Bowers would almost certainly go to ADX, the system’s administrative maximum-security prison, in Florence, Colo., if he receives a life sentence.

The BOP’s only supermax facility, it is reserved for the most notorious prisoners, terrorists and national security threats.

Because Bowers’ crime was motivated by his hatred of Jews and has received widespread publicity, she said he would likely end up there.

He would be housed in a single cell for 23 hours a day, including all of his meals.

Bowers would get only two, 15-minute phone calls each month, which are monitored in real time; could only shower three times each week; and flush the toilet in his cell twice per hour.

Recreation is in a locked cage alone, and he would never have contact visits.

Day 33

47. Maureen Baird, continued, (on the stand 2 hours 1 minute)

Baird told the jury that Bowers would have a television in his cell with 60 national broadcast channels, like ESPN and CNN, as well as programming through the prison.

On cross-examination, Baird said that inmates at ADX are able to earn additional privileges with good behavior, including additional phone calls, out-of-cell time and getting to play bingo and trivia.

Inmates are permitted to have approved hobby and craft supplies in their cells and are expected to receive electronic tablets with music, games and programming.

There is also an alternative housing program for inmates 50 and older that Bowers could eventually qualify for — which would mean he could have recreation with up to seven other inmates.

ADX has a current population of 328 inmates with a capacity 563.

48. Dr. George Corvin, (on the stand 2 hours, 53 minutes)

Corvin, a psychiatrist practicing in Raleigh, N.C., spent nearly 39 hours with Bowers over 10 sessions.

He was asked by the defense to determine if Bowers has a diagnosable mental illness, and if so, what impact it had in possibly mitigating the sentence he is facing.

Corvin told the jury that Bowers does not want people to think that he’s mentally ill.

“He wants the opposite of that.”

Corvin described Bowers as having a flat affect and an inability to read a person’s tone of voice or facial expressions. He often said offensive things, not understanding that they were off-putting.

“The way he communicates with you is the way schizophrenics communicate,”

49. Janet Purdue, (on the stand 42 minutes)

Purdue worked for the federal Bureau of Prisons until 2022.

She agreed with Baird that Bowers would likely be sentenced to ADX if he was ordered to serve life without release.

The reason for that, she said, is that his safety would be jeopardized at other facilities because his was a religious hate crime.

“He may become the target of other inmates,” Purdue said. “I think inmates would not take so kindly to him in an open population.”

Day 34

48. Dr. George Corvin, continued, (on the stand 3 hours,. 43 minutes)

Corvin testified that the defendant has delusional schizophrenia, marked by a belief that Satan will cause a race war ending in the obliteration of whites.

He believes Satan is using Jews in that effort, Corvin said.

The expert witness told the jury that Bowers’ crimes were a result of mental illness.

“He believes he’s a tool for God. I know it sounds absurd,” Corvin said. “It’s psychotic.”

He told the jury that Bowers has delusions, and that his mental health began to worsen after the death of his grandfather in 2014 and best friend in 2016.

“It’s got nothing to do with whites. It’s got nothing to do with Blacks. It’s got nothing to do with Jews,” Corvin said. “It’s Satan causing the destruction of Christianity so he can destroy the world.”

50. Clyde Munger, (on the stand 9 minutes)

Munger, 86, is Bowers’ uncle. He said they used to frequently meet at the Golden Corral, and that Bowers’ favorite thing was the chocolate fountain.

Munger also told the jury that he loves his nephew and prays for him every day.

51. Patricia Fine, (on the stand 50 minutes)

Bowers’ aunt, Fine testified about her family growing up, and particularly her sister, who is the defendant’s mother.

She described Barbara, who is nearly seven years older than her, as a very sad child.

“I don’t remember her being joyful, playing,” Fine said.

Later, as an adult, her sister was unable to properly care for her son, and there was often not adequate food or housing.

Fine also told the jury that from a young age, Bowers was quiet and withdrawn.

“He didn’t get excited and giggly. He didn’t get mad,” she testified “He was always the same. He didn’t have joy.”

Fine will return to the stand on Monday.