What to Know
- Jurors have reached a verdict in the federal death penalty case of a 34-year-old man who killed eight people in a Manhattan bike lane five years ago in an attempt, prosecutors say, to impress a group terrorist.
- Sayfullo Saipov, an Uzbek national living in New Jersey at the time of the 2017 Halloween attack, allegedly drove a Home Depot rental van down the popular Hudson River Greenway bike path, striking multiple people.
- Saipov’s defense attorney, David Patton, has not denied that his client killed eight people and seriously injured others. Patton said Saipov expected to die a martyr’s death that day.
NEW YORK — Jurors have reached a verdict in the federal death penalty case of a 34-year-old man who killed eight people in a Manhattan bike lane five years ago in an attempt prosecutors say impress a terrorist group.
Sayfullo Saipov was found guilty on Thursday of all the charges he faced in connection with the massacre.
Saipov, an Uzbek national living in New Jersey at the time of the 2017 Halloween attack, drove a Home Depot rental van at least 10 blocks along the popular Hudson River Greenway bike path from West Houston to Chambers Street, running over nearly a dozen pedestrians and bicyclists before crashing into a school bus.
Witnesses said at the time that the school bus accident also appeared deliberate. About a dozen were injured, some of them seriously, in addition to the eight deaths in what the authorities described as a “cowardly act of terrorism.” Saipov allegedly showed no remorse, and prosecutors said in closing arguments that he said later that day that he was proud of what he did.
He also asked to hang the flag of the Islamic State group in his Manhattan hospital room, they said.
Saipov’s defense attorney, David Patton, has not denied that his client killed eight people and seriously injured others.
“It was not an accident. He did it intentionally,” Patton said. “At the end of the day, there is no point in such a senseless act.”
However, the lawyer said prosecutors were wrong to say Saipov did it to curry favor with a terrorist group, saying the brutality shows he already considered himself a member. Patton said Saipov expected to die a martyr’s death that day.
The jury began deliberating on the case on Wednesday. If he is found guilty on all counts, a week later the sentencing phase begins, similar to the proceedings in the case of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Nathan David Chacon, 45, is accused of knowingly driving his silver 2007 Chevrolet Silverado into a police department lobby.
Unless the jurors unanimously choose death, the sentence would be life in prison.
Saipov was charged in a 22-count federal indictment less than a month after the attack. Only the first eight counts — murder in aid of organized crime activity, which hinges on an alleged attempt to impress ISIS — are eligible for the death penalty.
His marks the first death penalty case under the Biden administration.
