NY: Possible death sentence debated for bike path attacker

NEW YORK (AP) — A jury will deliberate Monday on whether to impose the death penalty on an Islamic extremist who killed eight people on a New York City bike path, an unusual sentence in a state that has not imposed execution for 60 years.

Sayfullo Saipov, 35, was convicted last month of the 2017 attack in which he intentionally ran over people with his truck who were using the bike path near the Hudson River.

The same jury that convicted him will now return and hear testimony from other witnesses during the sentencing phase of the trial. To impose the death penalty, there must be a unanimous decision; otherwise, he will be sentenced to life imprisonment.

Saipov’s lawyers hope to convince a jury that life in prison is sufficient for the attack that killed five Argentine friends, a Belgian woman and two Americans.

New York has no capital punishment and has not executed anyone since 1963, but Saipov’s trial is at the federal level and so the death penalty is an option, though rarely imposed. The last time someone was executed for a federal crime in New York was in 1954.

President Joe Biden declared a moratorium on federal executions shortly after taking office, and the Justice Department has so far not initiated any death penalty proceedings.

Saipov’s lawyers argue that it is unconstitutional to seek the death penalty when the federal government has stopped seeking it in other cases, including cases where the defendant killed more people.