Sayfullo Saipov could get death penalty in NYC terror attack
A Manhattan jury will start weighing on Monday whether an Islamic extremist who fatally ran down eight people on a bike path along the Hudson River in 2017 should be put to death for his crimes.
The same jury last month convicted the fanatic — 35-year-old Sayfullo Saipov of Uzbekistan — of intentionally running down the bicyclists with a pickup truck rented from Home Depot before he crashed into a school bus near the World Trade Center.
If jurors decide in favor of the death penalty, it could be the first execution in New York since 1963. Although the state no longer employs capital punishment, Saipov was found guilty of federal crimes and so is eligible for the sentence.
The last time someone was put to death for a federal crime in the Empire State was in 1954.
The jury’s vote must be unanimous or Saipov will go to prison for life.
Saipov was convicted Jan. 26 on more than two dozen charges, including murder in aid of racketeering and supporting a foreign terrorist organization.
His Oct. 31, 2017, rampage killed a Belgian tourist, five Argentinean friends and two Americans. It also left others with permanent injuries, including a woman who lost her legs.
Saipov sprang from the truck holding pellet and paintball guns, yelling “God is great” in Arabic. A cop shot him because he thought they were real firearms.