For the first time in 60 years, a New York jury is considering the death penalty for a Muslim terrorist who murdered eight people in New York in 2017. New York does not have the death penalty and the city has not executed anyone since 1963
A jury will consider whether an Islamic terrorist who killed eight people on a bicycle path in New York City should receive the death penalty, an extremely rare punishment in a country that has not executed a single criminal in 60 years.
Saifulu Saifov, 35 years old, was killed last month in the 2017 terrorist attack. The terrorist drives a truck at high speed on purpose in the bicycle path along the Hudson River, when he kills cyclists in the morning before the Christian holiday.
The same jury that found Saifov guilty of murdering eight people will call additional witnesses in the punishment phase of the trial. Anything less than a unanimous vote for the death penalty would mean that Saifov would spend the rest of his life in prison.
Saifov’s lawyers hope to convince jurors that life in prison is a sufficient punishment for the attack in which five friends from Argentina, a woman from Belgium and two Americans were killed.
New York does not have the death penalty and the city has not executed anyone since 1963, but Saipov’s trial was held in federal court, where the death sentence is still an option, though a request for it is rarely granted. The last time a person was executed for a federal crime in New York was in 1954.
Saifov, unrepentant since he was shot after getting out of his truck and threatening the police with a weapon, from a hospital bed he smiled at the cameras, the terrorist is a citizen of Uzbekistan, he asked to place a flag of the Islamic State (ISIS) on the wall of his hospital room.
Prosecutors plan to present evidence to jurors that, if alive, Saifov would still be able to communicate with ISIS supporters. Saifov’s lawyers said even before the trial that he would be willing to plead guilty and reach a settlement of life imprisonment, if they did not ask for the death penalty.