Sayfullo Saipov, 34, the ISIS-inspired terrorist responsible for killing eight individuals and seriously wounding 12 others during an attack on Manhattan’s West Side Highway bike path in 2017, will not face the death penalty.
Instead, Saipov will serve life in prison due to a jury’s failure to reach the unanimous verdict necessary to apply the death penalty, according to the NY Post. At the tail end of the monthslong trial, the verdict reportedly culminated in two full days of deliberation, including a 10-hour session on March 13 — when jurors told the presiding judge they were deadlocked. On January 26, Saipov was convicted on 28 counts of murder and terrorism charges and entered the penalty phase of his trial. Eight of those counts were murder charges while another 18 counts existed as attempted murder — in addition to one count of destruction of a motor vehicle that caused death. Of those charges, 26 served as federal racketeering charges for the execution of the terrorist attack in an attempt to join ISIS. Nine of the 28 total counts Saipov was convicted of carried the possibility of the death penalty.
BREAKING: A divided jury means there will be no death penalty for an Islamic extremist who killed eight people with a truck on a New York City bike path in 2017. Sayfullo Saipov gets an automatic sentence of life in prison without parole. https://t.co/bF3lL3pA41
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 13, 2023
The grounds of the jury’s verdict were reportedly based on 26 “mitigating,” factors they were instructed to consider and prove while deliberating on the life or death sentence for Saipov. The jury purportedly unanimously found the existence of the 26 mitigating factors, which included evidence that the defense presented during the trial and details of Saipov’s proposed confinement in the nation’s most secure prison facility in Colorado for the remainder of his life. All 12 jurors also reportedly agreed that Saipov’s life still has meaning in addition to their agreeance with mitigating factor No. 24, which asserts that his three children still love him. Saipov reportedly showed “no visible emotion,” while Judge Vernon Broderick read the lengthy verdict sheet in the courtroom following the jurors’ decision. No formal sentencing date has been set, however, a press release from the United States Justice Department confirmed that Broderick will sentence the 34-year-old to “the statutorily mandated sentence of life in prison.”
The penalty phase, which closely resembles a trial in and of itself, saw prosecutors and defense attorneys question witnesses and present evidence while delivering opening and closing arguments. Prosecutors questioned numerous witnesses including surviving members of the victims’ families in front of the jurors, which was a panel of three women and nine men. In addition to testimony from family members of the victims, family members, such as Saipov’s father also testified.
Previous reports allege that Saipov, who arrived in the United States in 2010 from Uzbekistan, planned his attack for over a year and had also targeted the Brooklyn bridge. On Halloween in 2017, Saipov rented a home depot truck and caused multiple fatalities after running over cyclists on the Westside Highway bike path. He was arrested after crashing into a school bus and being struck by gunfire from authorities after he roamed the scene of the attack waving around fake guns.
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A prosecution lawyer in the case, Assistant US Attorney Alexander Li, told jurors that Saipov smiled, gave a “proud confession” and requested an ISIS flag be hung in a hospital room where he was being treated after the attack. Saipov also allegedly told investigators that he had been radicalized after watching over 90 YouTube videos detailing ISIS-related manifestos.