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The gunman charged with the mass shooting inside Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, killing \u00a011 and injuring six others using an AR-15 rifle and three handguns, was convicted on Friday. A Pennsylvania jury found Robert Bowers<\/strong>, 50, guilty on all 63 counts, including hate crimes and civil rights charges, was responsible for the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now the trial moves to the penalty phase, as prosecutors seek the death penalty.<\/p>\n Bowers\u2019 guilt was never in question\u2014his lawyers conceded from the beginning that he was responsible for the deadly mass shooting\u2014and jurors needed roughly five hours to deliver a verdict. During three weeks of wrenching emotional testimony, prosecutors described Bowers\u2019 virulent antisemitism, evidenced in his prolific online behavior, that showed him \u201cdedicated to the eradication of Jews,\u201d as one DOJ prosecutor put it.<\/p>\n Bowers\u2019 capital offenses include 11 counts of \u201cobstructing free exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death\u201d and 11 counts of \u201chate crimes resulting in death.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI am grateful to God for getting us to this day,\u201d Tree of Life Rabbi Jeffrey Myers,<\/strong> who survived the attack, said<\/a> in a written statement. \u201cAnd I am thankful for the law enforcement who ran into danger to rescue me, and the U.S. Attorney who stood up in court to defend my right to pray.\u201d<\/p>\n As the trial moves into its next phase, expected to last over a month, jurors will have to decide whether Bowers should be sentenced to death or life in prison without parole. Bowers\u2019 attorneys originally sought a plea deal that would have guaranteed him a life sentence without the possibility of parole, but prosecutors refused and took the case to trial to seek the death penalty.<\/p>\n Most of the shooting victims\u2019 families supported<\/a> this decision, though one of the congregations housed at Tree of Life sent a letter<\/a> to then-Attorney General Bill Barr<\/strong> asking him to seek a plea deal, which they argued \u201cwould have prevented the attacker from getting the attention and publicity that will inevitably come with a trial, and eliminated any possibility of further trauma that could result from a trial and protracted appeals. The rabbi of another congregation housed at the synagogue wrote<\/a> to Barr with a similar request, calling the death penalty a \u201ccruel form of justice\u201d and citing evidence that the Jewish religious tradition opposes capital punishment.<\/p>\n