(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) An ISIS-affiliated criminal who faced arrest for killing eight people and injuring another 11 when driving down a sidewalk, received only a life sentence in prison by a federal jury.
Sayfullo Saipov, a citizen of Uzbekistan, did not get a death sentence due to the jury’s inability to come to a consensus, the Post Millennial reported.
Saipov was described to the jury, which was made up of six men and three women, as a “proud terrorist,” by assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Houle.
“He chose to come to this country and fight for an enemy,” Houle continued. “And it is his choices that call for the most significant punishment that the law provides: the sentence of death.”
Defense attorney David Patton countered the argument by encouraging the jury to send Saipov to an “isolated, solitary” jail in Colorado, where he would serve a life sentence, and claimed that “meeting with more death is not the answer.”
The defense also questioned Saipov’s family members in order to humanize him.
The jury deliberated for 10 hours before announcing their decision.
Saipov drove a rented Home Depot truck down a bike path in New York City on Oct. 31, 2017.
He confessed to the FBI that he attacked the pedestrians in the name of ISIS and was subsequently charged on 28 counts, including murder and support for a terrorist organization.
“It was a scene of destruction and horror,” said assistant U.S. attorney Alexander Li, who prosecuted Saipov’s initial case. “Mangled bicycles covered the path. The riders—human beings—lay unconscious or dead. Survivors staggered around, wounded and dazed, searching for family and friends.”
The state of New York has not executed criminals for federal crimes in almost 70 years.
The Biden administration implemented a moratorium on the death penalty in 2021, but cases from previous administrations may still seek the punishment.
