Jury Spares Bike Path Terrorist Death Sentence, Draws Life in Prison Instead

Jurors elected not to give the death sentence to the terrorist whose truck attack in a bike path killed eight people on Halloween 2017.

While they spared the life of Sayfullo Saipov, he was still sentenced to life in prison for the attack.

He had already been found guilty of the attack but in order for Saipov to be sentenced to death, the jury’s verdict had to be unanimous in favor.

On Monday, March 13, the trial culminated in a decision of life in prison.

Saipov, 35, was an Uzbek national living in New Jersey at the time of the attack. An Islamic extremist, he rented a truck and drove it into a bike lane while shouting “God is great,” killing eight in NYC’s deadliest terrorist attack since 9/11.

“By your verdict last month, you guaranteed he will spend the rest of his life in prison and not just any prison, he will be sent to one of the most isolated, solitary, locked away places on the face of the planet,” public defender David Patton previously told jurors during the trial, as reported by CNN.

“But now you face a very different and truly extraordinary decision - whether another human being should live or die. It is a unique, individualized moral decision.”

Patton asked the jury to “decide that meeting death with more death is not the answer.”

However, prosecutor Amanda Houle focused on the tragedy Saipov inflicted upon the eight victims and their families, saying, ““He chose to attack a protected bike path on Halloween afternoon in the heart of the city filled with innocent people and surrounded by children.”

Saipov was convicted in January of all counts and, as per Monday’s decision, will serve a life sentence.