美国国家公共电台 NPR--Trial begins for Robert Bowers, accused of killing 11 in a Pittsburgh synagogue

Trial begins for Robert Bowers¹, accused of killing² 11 in a Pittsburgh synagogue

Transcript³

The trial for the accused shooter in the 2018 synagogue shooting is underway. Eleven Jewish worshippers were killed and six more injured. The shooter could get the death penalty.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

Trial is underway for the man accused of killing 11 worshippers at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh back in 2018.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Six people were also injured that day in what's considered to be the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history. The defendant⁵ is charged with 63 federal counts, including hate crimes.

MART?NEZ: Oliver Morrison of member station WESA was in court. Oliver, why is the trial just starting now, I mean, four years after the attack?

OLIVER MORRISON, BYLINE⁶: Well, the trial was delayed in part because of COVID. And so that's had an impact because during interviews of potential jurors, which took about a month, many of the jurors couldn't even remember the very basic details of what happened. But they were sworn in yesterday. And they started to hear those details very quickly. The defense⁷ and prosecution⁸ both gave their opening arguments. And then we heard from a few of the witnesses, including some very graphic⁹ 911 phone calls.

MART?NEZ: All right. So what did the prosecution and the defense say in their opening statements?

MORRISON: So the prosecution basically laid the scene of what happened that day. They talked about the many congregants arriving at the synagogue and introduced them to the jury. And then they switched to talking about Robert Bowers and the many anti-Semitic comments that he had made online, talked about how he showed up and began hunting them. They argued that, you know, even though it was a tragedy, there were many acts of heroism¹⁰ from the witnesses that will be testifying during the trial. Now, the defense took a different tack⁴. They didn't dispute that Bowers was the one that killed everyone. And they didn't even dispute that it was horrible. This didn't come as a total surprise because Bowers had tried to plead guilty in the trial in exchange for life in prison. But the prosecution rejected that effort. They want to seek the death penalty.

So the defense basically had two tacks¹¹ that they tried. One was to say that it wasn't really a hate crime because Bowers wasn't trying to hurt Jews specifically. Bowers, right before he went in, had made a comment about a refugee resettlement group. One of the congregations at the Tree of Life synagogue had supported a refugee resettlement group. And so he was actually acting¹² with animus¹³ towards the refugees, not towards Jews in particular. They also said that these kinds of statements and actions that didn't line up sort of were an example of the irrationality¹⁴ that they're hoping to prove during the course of the trial.

MART?NEZ: Now, has the jury heard from any witnesses?

MORRISON: Well, yeah, there were several witnesses. And one of them in particular made a big impact at the end of the day yesterday, the Tree of Life Rabbi Jeffrey Myers. Many of the people that were there that day were very elderly, so he helped them, like, lay down on the ground and get out of the shooting. And then he fled upstairs into a little bathroom. And in that bathroom, there was no lock on the door. So he called 911. And from that bathroom, he was just holding the door handle. And the gunshots were getting louder and louder. And so he was pretty convinced that his life was about to end.

And so he didn't want to call his wife because, you know, he didn't want to put her through that. So he decided¹⁵ what he should do is say a Jewish prayer to ask for forgiveness, especially for the congregants that day, who he thought might not have a chance to say the prayer themselves. So he was - you know, a vivid scene of him sort of gripping this doorknob, ready to fight if the shooter came in but just quietly accepting his fate and what he thought was going to happen.

MART?NEZ: Oliver Morrison of member station WESA. Oliver, thank you.

MORRISON: Thank you.

1 bowers   

n.（女子的）卧室( bower的名词复数 )；船首锚；阴凉处；鞠躬的人

参考例句：

• If Mr Bowers is right, low government-bond yields could lose their appeal and equities could rebound. 如果鲍尔斯先生的预计是对的，那么低收益的国债将会失去吸引力同时股价将会反弹。 来自互联网

2 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 tack   

n.大头钉；假缝，粗缝

参考例句：

• He is hammering a tack into the wall to hang a picture.他正往墙上钉一枚平头钉用来挂画。
• We are going to tack the map on the wall.我们打算把这张地图钉在墙上。

5 defendant   

n.被告；adj.处于被告地位的

参考例句：

• The judge rejected a bribe from the defendant's family.法官拒收被告家属的贿赂。
• The defendant was borne down by the weight of evidence.有力的证据使被告认输了。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

8 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。

9 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

10 heroism   

n.大无畏精神，英勇

参考例句：

• He received a medal for his heroism.他由于英勇而获得一枚奖章。
• Stories of his heroism resounded through the country.他的英雄故事传遍全国。

11 tacks   

大头钉( tack的名词复数 )； 平头钉； 航向； 方法

参考例句：

• Never mind the side issues, let's get down to brass tacks and thrash out a basic agreement. 别管枝节问题，让我们讨论问题的实质，以求得基本一致。
• Get down to the brass tacks,and quit talking round the subject. 谈实质问题吧，别兜圈子了。

12 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

13 animus   

n.恶意；意图

参考例句：

• They are full of animus towords us.他们对我们怀有敌意。
• When you have an animus against a person,you should give it up.当你对别人怀有敌意时，你应当放弃这种想法。

14 irrationality   

n. 不合理，无理性

参考例句：

• Such stoppages as are observed in practice are thus attributed to mistakes or even irrationality. 在实际情况中看到的这些停工，要归因于失误或甚至是非理性的东西。
• For all its harshness and irrationality, it is the only world we've got. 尽管它严酷而又不合理，它终究是我们具有的唯一的世界。

15 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。