Divided Jury Decision: No Death Penalty for NYC Bike Path Killer

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An Islamic extremist drove a truck down a popular bike path in New York City, killing 8 people and injuring many more. Some jurors wanted to punish him with the death penalty, but others disagreed, so he will not face this punishment.

Sayfullo Saipov, a 35-year-old Uzbekistan citizen who lived in New Jersey, was found guilty for an attack that took place in October 2017. The ruling now means he will have to spend his life behind bars with no chance of him being released. The judge was told by the jury members that they couldn’t agree on a unanimous decision which would have lead to Saipov receiving death penalty.

Recently, a jury found a man guilty of murdering eight people. This verdict came after the court heard heartbreaking accounts from the survivors and relatives of those killed. The charges included killing for illegal profits and helping out with a terrorist organization.

Last month, a court meeting was held to decide if the punishment for a particular person should be death or life imprisonment in an extremely secure prison. During the meeting, the prosecutors wanted the toughest punishment and some of his relatives said they still love him and want him to understand how wrong his actions were.

Everyone knew that Sayfullo Saipov was the one responsible for the killings. His lawyers admitted he purposely drove his rental truck on a beautiful day onto a busy bike path in Manhattan close to the Hudson River with the goal of dying as a martyr.

The prosecutors said that the man drove so fast to try and hurt as many people as possible. But his plan of getting to the Brooklyn Bridge and hurting even more ended when he crashed into a school bus. After leaving the destroyed vehicle, the guy shouted something in Arabic which means “God is great,” while carrying two guns: one with paintballs and the other with pellets. Eventually, he was shot by a police officer.

Also, according to sea-prosecutors, the man asked someone to put an Islamic State flag inside his hospital room and smiled when making this request.

In some states in the United States, prisoners are often sentenced to death. But this isn’t the case in New York. In fact, they haven’t put anyone on death row since 1963!

After an attack, Donald Trump tweeted that the attacker “should get the death penalty!”

Before he became president, Joe Biden promised to try and end federal death penalty punishments. No one has been put to death since he became president. Attorney General Merrick Garland said that no new executions would happen in 2021, but if a crime was committed before Biden’s time, prosecutors can still ask for the death penalty.

At the trial, Saipov was very emotional when his father and sisters talked. Apart from that, he mostly stayed calm with his head down while listening to testimonies from injured victims like a lady from Belgium who lost her legs and her husband who had to get brain surgery due to the attack.

Saipov refused to speak at the trial. However, during his hearing in 2019, he said to Judge Broderick that he cannot be blamed for killing eight people since thousands of Muslims are dying all around the world.

At the end of Tuesday’s penalty task, the lawyers tried to convince the jury one last time.

The assistant U.S. attorney wants Saipov to get the death penalty for hurting innocent people, but the defense lawyer said that he should only spend his life in prison instead. He came to America from Uzbekistan in 2010 and lived in Ohio and Florida before going to Paterson, New Jersey. This is the first time in ten years that a death penalty trial happened in New York.

In 2007 and 2013, two juries in Brooklyn had decided to give a man the death penalty after he killed 2 police officers. However, an appeals court overturned the decision before a judge concluded that the murderer was not in his right mind.

In 2001, another jury in Manhattan turned down the proposal for two men who were responsible for bombing U.S. embassies in Africa to receive the death sentence due to their lawyers pleading against making them look like heroes.

The last time someone went to prison for doing something wrong according to the law in New York was in 1954.