What you should know
- Sayfullo Saipov was convicted of killing eight people on a Manhattan bike path on Halloween 2017 in a terror-inspired attack. The death penalty had been on the table, but the jury failed to reach a unanimous decision, meaning for him an automatic life sentence without the possibility of parole.
- Prosecutors had called for death, saying Saipov never showed compassion for any of his victims, as he tried to kill as many people as he could, even confessing that he hoped to go to the Brooklyn Bridge after the bike lane attack to kill. to more people. Now they want eight life sentences.
- Saipov’s lawyers had asked the jury to spare him the death penalty, noting how several members of his family expressed the hope that one day he would realize how wrong he was. He did not testify during the trial, but will have the opportunity to speak at his sentencing.
NEW YORK — Family members of eight people who were killed in a Halloween terror attack on a New York City bike lane in 2017, as well as those who were injured, are expected to speak at a sentencing hearing Wednesday for Sayfullo. Saipov, the Islamic extremist who prosecutors say should have been executed for his crimes.
Sayfullo Saipov’s sentencing in Manhattan federal court comes after a jury in March rejected the death penalty for the Uzbekistan citizen and former New Jersey resident, leaving him with a mandatory life sentence.
Saipov did not appear to express any emotion or reaction as he listened to the translation of Judge Vernon Broderick reading out the lengthy verdict. He just stared straight ahead, listening through headphones at the defense table.
Prosecutors urged Judge Vernon S. Broderick to impose a sentence of eight consecutive life sentences, one for each death, and an additional 260 years in prison, according to a pre-sentence filing.
“Saipov is a brazen terrorist, a proud murderer who deserves no leniency and must be punished to the fullest extent of the law,” prosecutors wrote.
“After months of planning a ferocious terrorist attack, Saipov got what he wanted: brutal carnage of innocent people, destroyed lives and families, and terror in New York City. In fact, the only thing Saipov was denied was even more death and destruction because he crashed into a school bus before reaching the Brooklyn Bridge,” they added.
Luis Alejandro Medina informs us.
THE VIOLENT HALLOWEEN ATTACK AND ITS SENTENCE
Saipov, 35, carried out his attack on Halloween 2017 when he ran over his rented truck on a bike path in Lower Manhattan that is popular with residents and tourists.
Five Argentine tourists, two Americans and a Belgian woman were killed, and 18 others seriously injured.
Saipov was shot by a police officer and immediately detained after getting out of his truck shouting “God is great” in Arabic and waving paintball guns and pellets in the air.
Prosecutors said he smiled when he asked FBI agents who questioned him in a hospital room after the attack if they could hang an Islamic State group flag on the walls.
At his trial, his family members asked for life in prison, saying they hoped he would realize what he had done and express remorse. They said they wanted him to go back to the passive person they remembered him from before he became obsessed with online propaganda posted by the Islamic State militant group.
Saipov, a former long-haul truck driver, legally moved to the US from Uzbekistan in 2010 and lived in Ohio and Florida before joining his family in Paterson, New Jersey.
His lawyer, David Patton, told the jury that his actions were “senseless, horrific, and there is no justification for them.”
Patton, who did not post a sentencing filing on the public file, did not return an email Tuesday.
Saipov, who did not testify at his trial, will have a chance to speak at the sentencing hearing.
2023-05-17 15:16:30
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