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Man convicted of killing 8 in Manhattan bike path terror case spared the death penalty
By
Samantha Max
and
Isidoro Rodriguez
Published Mar 13, 2023
Modified Mar 13, 2023
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Courtesy St. Charles County Department of Corrections
By
Samantha Max
and
Isidoro Rodriguez
Published Mar 13, 2023
Modified Mar 13, 2023
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A man who pledged his loyalty to ISIS and killed eight people in 2017 has been spared the death penalty. Sayfullo Saipov was sentenced to life in prison following a two-month trial in Manhattan federal court.
Prosecutors said Saipov deliberately plowed a rented pickup truck into pedestrians and cyclists on a West Side Highway bike path. They called him a “proud terrorist” and said he wanted his victims to be “eliminated in humiliation.”
The incident marked the deadliest terrorist attack in New York City since Sept. 11, 2001.
A jury convicted Saipov, 35, of multiple murder and terrorism charges in January. That prompted a second phase of the trial to determine whether he would be executed by lethal injection.
New York abolished the death penalty in 2004, and no one has been executed in the state for six decades. Capital punishment is still legal on the federal level, though long stretches of time have passed without a single execution. Following a years-long hiatus, 13 people were killed during the Trump administration.
The case poses a contradiction for President Joe Biden, who has pledged to abolish the federal death penalty, but whose administration also declined calls from defense attorneys to stop its pursuit of capital punishment for Saipov. Legislation sponsored by New York Rep. Adriano Espaillat to prohibit the practice in federal cases has not made it to the floor of Congress for a vote.
Hung jury
To receive the federal death sentence, jurors are required to come to a unanimous decision. But after days of deliberations, the jury could not reach an agreement.
The packed courtroom was quiet as Judge Vernon Broderick read through the verdict sheet. Every seat was filled, and some people were standing along the walls. Saipov, dressed in a red fleece and black mask, kept his head down and eyes closed. After the announcement of the verdict, he was quickly whisked out of the courtroom. Victims’ family members hugged and wept.
Saipov is expected to spend the rest of his life at a federal maximum security prison, known as ADX Florence, where he will be locked in a cell for up to 23 hours a day. He will have no contact with other incarcerated people at least for the foreseeable future and will only get a few showers and 15-minute phone calls to family per week, the defense said during closing arguments.
“Mr. Saipov’s life will be regulated to the nth degree,” Federal Defender David Patton said.
Patton also said at the time that Saipov is “not going to be harming anyone ever again.” The Federal Defenders of New York could not be reached for comment after the verdict.
Prosecutors urged jurors to vote for the death penalty following days of emotional testimony from some of Saipov’s surviving victims, as well as the loved ones of those who had died. Saipov killed several parents, including a mother who had given birth just weeks earlier. He also crashed into a school bus transporting special education students, gravely injuring a staff member and a teen.
“He chose to inflict pain and loss,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Leigh Houle said during closing statements, adding, “He chose to do all of this to support a vile terrorist organization.”
In court documents, prosecutors said that Saipov, a long-haul truck driver from Uzbekistan, rented a pick-up truck and sped down the crowded West Side Highway bike path on Oct. 31, 2017. They argued in court that he considered going to Times Square, but chose the path instead, because it would be easier to drive quickly enough to cause harm. U.S. attorney also said he yelled “Allahu Akbar” after the attack and asked to hang an ISIS flag in his hospital room.
During closing arguments, Saipov’s defense attorney called the death sentence a “deeply moral decision” and asked jurors to “choose life.” Earlier in the trial, an expert on terrorism spoke about ISIS’s recruiting tactics, particularly for Uzbek migrants like Saipov. A federal Bureau of Prisons official also described the conditions that Saipov would face at ADX Florence.
Patton also spoke about Saipov’s relatives, some of whom testified during the death penalty phase of the trial. He described their shock at learning that someone who used to dress up as Santa Claus on Christmas to cheer up the children in his close-knit family had carried out an Islamic terrorist attack.
“Their love comes from the Sayfullo that they once knew,” Patton said.
“Mr. Saipov has not given us much reason to hope,” he said. “But I think about his family.”
This story has been updated with additional information.
Tagged
terror attack
verdict
west side highway terror
death penalty
Samantha Max
Samantha reports on whether New Yorkers feel safe and whether the institutions that are supposed to protect them are working. Before coming to WNYC/Gothamist, she spent three years covering the criminal justice system in Tennessee for Nashville Public Radio. Her reporting on Nashville's police department received multiple awards, including the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize. Samantha was also part of the inaugural class of Report for America, a service journalism program that sends up-and-coming reporters to local newsrooms across the country. She is a Northwestern University grad, a Baltimore native and fluent in Spanish. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal: samanthamaxwnyc.93.
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Isidoro Rodriguez
Isidoro Rodriguez is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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