A prosecutor told New York jurors that the man convicted of killing eight people when he drove a van onto a busy Manhattan bike path in 2017 should be executed, which would be the state’s first in six decades.
(Bloomberg) — A prosecutor told New York jurors that the man convicted of killing eight people when he drove a van onto a busy Manhattan bike path in 2017 should be executed, which would be the state’s first in six decades.
“We will ask you to impose a sentence of death, not because it’s easy — because it’s not — but because it’s just,” prosecutor Amanda Leigh Houle told 12 jurors Monday during opening arguments in the punishment phase of the case.
Sayfullo Saipov, 35, was convicted last month, and the same jury will now decide his sentence, which could be life in prison without release or execution. The last execution in New York was in 1963. The punishment phase will involve testimony from relatives of victims.
In arguing its case, the government cited Saipov’s adoption of ISIS ideology, that he’d intended to kill people when he drove the van onto the bike path, and that he’d shown no remorse.
“Sayfullo Saipov committed a brutal terrorist attack in this city for ISIS,” the prosecutor said. “He murdered eight people. He tried to murder many more.”
Defense lawyer David Stern told the jury that the decision is a moral one, which they “will have to live with for the rest of [their] life.” Saipov “did a terrible, terrible thing, and whatever you decide he’ll pay a terrible price,” Stern said. “But the cycle of death has to stop somewhere.”
Saipov’s family will testify during the week that “he was not evil, he was not cruel, he was their loving son, grandson, father,” Stern said. “You’ll see his past could not predict the present.” He added, “Nothing that’s done in this courtroom can turn back the clocks.”
ISIS Propaganda
Saipov’s attorneys are hoping some mitigating factors about his background and character will do enough to balance some of the aggravating factors and convince the jury to choose life without parole. The defense argued Saipov had fallen victim to ISIS propaganda.
Throughout this week, the jury will hear from witnesses including surviving victims, friends and family of the deceased victims and members of Saipov’s family.
Ana Evans, spouse of deceased victim Hernán Mendoza, was the first witness called to the stand. She recalled her relationship with her spouse to the jury.
“He was passionate about his work and he liked to spend time with his family and friends,” she said. “We have grown together, learned together, and built a family together.”
Since New York reinstated the death penalty in 1988, only one person, Ronell Wilson, has been sentenced to death as a result of a jury’s recommendation, the US Department of Justice said. Wilson was convicted in Brooklyn of murdering two undercover New York City police officers and was sentenced to death, but a judge in 2016 said he couldn’t be executed because he was mentally disabled.
The case is USA v. Saipov, 17-cr-00722, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
(Updates with background on earlier death penalty case. An earlier version was corrected to show last execution was in 1963.)
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