Judge denies defense motion to conduct survey on jurors' religious affiliation in Tree of Life mass murder case

A federal judge on Monday denied a request by defense attorneys for the man accused of killing 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue four years ago to conduct an anonymous survey of potential jurors to determine their religious affiliation.

In a seven-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Robert J. Colville denied the request by Robert Bowers, who is scheduled to go to trial in April on dozens of counts stemming from the Oct. 27, 2018, attack at a Squirrel Hill synagogue. It housed three congregations: Tree of Life-Or L’Simcha, Dor Hadash and New Light.

If Bowers is convicted, the government is seeking the death penalty.

Defense attorneys filed a motion in August asking to conduct a one-question survey of potential jurors to ensure that Catholics — and any other religious groups — are not improperly excluded from the panel.

In their motion, the defense argued that if Catholics are disproportionately excluded because they are opposed to capital punishment, the jury hearing the case would produce a panel more willing to sentence Bowers to death.

That, the defense contended, would be a violation of their client’s right to a fair trial. In a court filing, they noted that a 2014 Pew Research Survey showed that 32% of adults in the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area are Catholic.

The government objected to the request, saying that the parties are not required to gather or collect religious-affiliation information from prospective jurors.

Instead, under federal law, the court is required to collect many pieces of biographical information, including name, address, age, race, occupation, education and length of residence in the jurisdiction.

“Religion or religious affiliation is not listed as information required to be elicited,” Colville wrote.