Robert Bowers, 50, was found guilty last month for the October 2018 attack.
This is the second stage of the trial. It now moves on to its final phase, sentencing selection.
The same jury will have to decide if Bowers should receive life in prison or be sentenced to death for carrying out the deadliest antisemitic attack in US history.
During the last trial phase, the jury will hear victim impact statements and other evidence before deciding if Bowers should be put to death.
Bowers, a truck driver, was convicted last month of 63 charges, including murder and hate crimes.
Prosecutors argued he was "filled with hatred for Jews" and "hunted" his victims.
An attorney for Bowers argued he carried out the attack because of hatred of immigrants and a Jewish non-profit group, not because of his hate specifically for Jews.
That distinction is important because under US federal law, in order for the jury to impose the death penalty, the prosecution must prove that Bowers was motivated by race hate or killed to stop people from exercising their religious beliefs.
Federal prosecutors rarely pursue the death penalty. Between 1988 and 2021, only 79 defendants in federal cases were sentenced to death, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Bowers killed 11 worshippers in the Pittsburgh attack, ranging in age from 54 to 97. Seven others were injured, including five police officers who rushed to the scene.
Three congregations - Dor Hadash, New Light and the Tree of Life - shared the synagogue.
Most families of those killed in the attack have said they support the death penalty for Bowers, although some , as well as the Dor Hadash congregation, have stated their opposition.
During the most recent phase of the trial, to prove Bowers was eligible for the death penalty, prosecutors had to convince the jury of Bowers' intent, as well as several other factors, including that the crime involved substantial planning and that those he targeted were considered vulnerable victims.
The defence, meanwhile, outlined the defendant's history of mental health issues.
Medical experts called by prosecutors dismissed the idea that mental illness played a role in the attack and talked about Bowers' belief in a racist conspiracy theory known as the "great replacement".
Federal Jury Finds Robert Bowers Eligible for Death Penalty
Last month, the jury found Bowers, 50, guilty of dozens of federal hate crimes in the trial at the U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh in western Pennsylvania.
Federal prosecutors charged Bowers with 63 counts, including 11 counts of obstruction of free exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death.
In the first phase of sentencing, the jury briefly deliberated on Wednesday afternoon and then for about two hours on Thursday morning before reaching their decision that Bowers was eligible for the death penalty, KDKA TV, a local CBS affiliate in Pittsburgh, reported.
In the final phase, both prosecutors and defense attorneys will have the chance to make arguments on whether he deserves the death penalty. The jury will then go back and deliberate Bowers' fate.
On June 16, the jury found him guilty on all counts, with defense lawyers offering no dispute that he planned and carried out the attack. Jurors heard testimony from some of the survivors of the attack and evidence of Bowers' antisemitism, including multiple posts attacking Jews made on a far-right website in the months leading up to the attack.
In federal capital cases, a unanimous vote by jurors in a separate penalty phase of the trial is required in order to sentence a defendant to death, and the judge cannot reject the jury's vote. If jurors are unable to reach a unanimous decision, the offender is instead sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release.
In the sentencing phase, prosecutors argued that Bowers had the necessary intent and premeditation to qualify for the death penalty. They presented witnesses and evidence to show he carefully planned the attack and deliberately targeted vulnerable elderly worshipers.
Defense lawyers presented that Bowers suffers from major mental illness, including schizophrenia, and so lacked the necessary level of intent.
Source: Reuters, Staff, July 13, 2023
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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
— Oscar Wilde
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
— Oscar Wilde