Accused Tree Of Life Killer Gets High-Profile Defense Attorney

PITTSBURGH, PA - A high-profile defense attorney who has represented some of the nation’s most notorious killers has joined accused Tree of Life synagogue shooter Robert Bowers’ legal team.

Judy Clarke, of the San Diego-based legal firm of Clarke Johnston Thorp & Rice, now will be Bowers’ lead attorney. Bowers is accused of killing 11 worshippers at the synagogue and wounding several others, including several police officers, during an Oct. 27 shooting rampage.

Bowers has pleaded not guilty to 44 federal charges, including nearly two dozen that carry a possible death penalty.

According to the American Bar Association, Clarke previously has represented:

• Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who received the death penalty for the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing that killed three people.

• Ted Kaczynski, more commonly known as the Unabomber, who killed three people and injured 23 others in a nationwide bombing campaign.

• Jared Loughner. Who killed six people and wounded 13 others - including former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords - in a 2011 shooting in Tucson, Ariz.

• Eric Rudolph, who killed two people and wounded more than 100 in four bombings, including one at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.

• Susan Smith, who was convicted in the 1994 drowning deaths of her two sons; one was three years old, the other 14 months.

Photo via Bulter County Prison.

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