Accused synagogue shooter to face death penalty
SAN DIEGO — The San Diego County district attorney’s office will seek the death penalty against John Earnest, accused of hate crime shootings at a Poway synagogue that left one dead and three wounded, prosecutors announced Thursday.
Earnest’s attorney told San Diego Superior Court Judge Peter Deddeh he will need co-counsel to assist in the defense of a death penalty case and more time to prepare for trial, which is currently set for June. 2.
Deputy Public Defender John O’Connell had no comment after the brief hearing.
Earnest, 20, of Rancho Penasquitos, sitting in court, did not visibly react to the announcement.
The former nursing student is charged with murder, three counts of attempted murder, a firearms allegation and hate crime allegations in the April 27 shootings at Chabad of Poway. He also is charged with arson at an Escondido mosque in March 2019.
Attorneys are to return to court April 17 to discuss a likely timeline for the trial.
Prosecutors declined to say when the death penalty decision had been reached.
But Deputy District Attorney Leonard Trinh said out of court that among the factors they took into consideration were the evidence in the case and discussions with the surviving victims wounded in the shooting and the family of Lori Gilbert-Kaye, 60, who was killed.
Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein was shot in both hands, causing him to lose an index finger. Congregants Almog Peretz, then 34, and his niece, Noya Dahan, then 8, were wounded.
Earnest is believed to have posted online a lengthy, signed diatribe against Jews, Muslims and racial minorities. The open letter describes his hatred of Jews, writing as if the posting will be read after he has killed as many Jews as possible.
The posting was spotted before the shootings and forwarded to the FBI by a tipster, but too late for investigators to identify and stop the author.
The shootings were caught on security-camera video, showing a man identified by prosecutors as Earnest stepping into the synagogue doorway, raising a rifle and firing. Then he ran to his nearby car and drove off as an off-duty Border Patrol agent fired at him.
Several minutes later, Earnest called 911 and told a California Highway Patrol dispatcher that he had just “opened fire at a synagogue.” He said he thought he had killed some people.
He waited in Rancho Bernardo for officers to arrive, then surrendered quietly to San Diego police. They seized an AR-15 rifle and ammunition from his car.
Earnest bought the rifle from a San Diego gun store the day before the attack, despite a state law that took effect last year prohibiting people under 21 years old from buying firearms.