Man who killed eight in New York bike path attack sentenced
Sayfullo Saipov received eight consecutive life sentences in the US as part of his sentence for a deadly attack in 2017.
The man responsible for killing eight people with a truck on a Manhattan bike lane in 2017 has been handed over eight consecutive life sentencestwo concurrent life sentences and an additional 260 years in prison for the attack that also seriously injured 18 others.
“The conduct in this case is some of the worst, if not the worst, I’ve ever seen,” United States District Judge Vernon S. Broderick said Wednesday.
The judge cited the unrepentant nature of defendant Sayfullo Saipov who, when given the chance to speak, said that the tears of the victims and relatives in the courtroom were small compared to the blood and tears shed by those of the Islamic faith. have suffered.
Saipov’s sentence came after a jury in March rejected the death penalty for the Uzbek citizen and one-time New Jersey resident, giving him a mandatory life sentence on Oct. 31, 2017, for butchering tourists and New Yorkers.
Relatives of eight people killed in the attack spoke through tears during the sentencing, describing their lingering pain and sometimes directly addressing the man sentenced to death.
Frank Decadt, father of victim Ann-Laure Decadt, told Saipov that he hoped “one day you will understand how much horror you have inflicted on so many people”.
Marion Van Reeth, who lost her legs in the attack, sat in front of Saipov in her wheelchair and told him, “I’ll never be able to walk like you.”
While Saipov listened to a translation of the procedure through headphones with his head bowed and his eyes downcast, Van Reeth said, “I have a question for you. After all this time in prison, are you still convinced that your criminal acts against innocent people were right?
Like others, she expressed the hope that one day Saipov would see that his act was wrong.
Monica Missio, whose son Nicholas Cleves was killed, told Saipov that his death “completely destroyed my life”.
Prosecutors urged Broderick to serve eight consecutive life sentences — one for each death — and an additional 260 years in prison, according to a sentencing submission.
“Saipov is an unashamed terrorist – a proud murderer who deserves no clemency and must be punished to the fullest extent of the law,” the prosecutors wrote.
The judge followed the prosecution’s recommendation by imposing eight consecutive life sentences and serving two concurrently, although the practical effect of a single life sentence is the same since there is no parole.
Saipov, 35, left a path of destruction with his attack.
Five tourists from Argentina, two Americans and a Belgian woman were killed and 18 others were seriously injured.
Saipov was shot by a police officer and immediately taken into custody after he emerged from his truck shouting “God is great” in Arabic and waving paintball and bullets in the air.
Prosecutors said he smiled when he asked Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, who were questioning him in a hospital room, if they could hang an ISIL (ISIS) group flag on the walls.
At his trial, his relatives pushed for a life sentence and said they hoped he would realize what he had done and express remorse. They said they wanted him to return to the passive person they remembered him as before he became obsessed with ISIL (ISIS) online propaganda.
Saipov, a former long-haul truck driver, moved to the US legally from Uzbekistan in 2010 and lived in Ohio and Florida before joining his family in Paterson, New Jersey.
His attorney, David Patton, told jurors his actions were “meaningless, appalling and there is no justification for them.”