Prosecutors oppose a defense request to exhume the body of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter’s father

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Federal prosecutors on Wednesday opposed a request by lawyers for the Pittsburgh synagogue gunman to exhume the body of his father for the purpose of proving paternity.

Robert Bowers’ lawyers want the body exhumed for a DNA test after prosecutors raised questions about paternity during Bowers’ trial for the 2018 massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue. Bowers, a 50-year-old truck driver from suburban Baldwin, faces a possible death sentence after being convicted in June of killing 11 worshippers at the Tree of Life synagogue.

Trying to persuade jurors to spare his life, the defense said Bowers has a family history of mental illness and has introduced evidence that his father was diagnosed with schizophrenia. The defense asserts Robert Bowers also has schizophrenia and opened fire at the synagogue out of a delusional belief that Jews were helping to commit a genocide against white people.

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The government urged the trial judge to reject the defense request, saying he does not have authority to order the body of Randall Bowers to be exhumed and calling the paternity issue tangential. Prosecutors also said the defense motion was “completely untimely and threatens delay and distraction from the pressing issues in the trial.”

Randall Bowers died by suicide in 1979 on the eve of his own rape trial. At trial last week, prosecutors sought to cast doubt on whether he was Robert Bowers’ biological father. The defense asked a judge on Tuesday to clear up the matter by ordering the exhumation of Randall Bowers’ body.

The judge has yet to rule.

Mental health experts hired by the defense told jurors that they diagnosed Robert Bowers with schizophrenia, a serious brain disorder whose symptoms include delusions and and hallucinations. A neurologist testifying for the prosecution disputed that Bowers has schizophrenia and said mental illness did not appear to play a role in the attack.