Federal Jury Returns a Life Verdict in New York for Sayfullo Saipov

On March 13, 2023, a jury in the fed­er­al death penal­ty pros­e­cu­tion of Sayfullo Saipov in New York City con­clud­ed its delib­er­a­tions with­out com­ing to a unan­i­mous deci­sion regard­ing sen­tenc­ing. As a result, Saipov will be sen­tenced to life in prison with­out parole. On January 26, the jury had unan­i­mous­ly found the defen­dant guilty of mur­der­ing eight peo­ple in 2017 by delib­er­ate­ly ram­ming a truck onto a crowd­ed Manhattan bike path. Neither Saipov nor his attor­neys con­test­ed his involve­ment in the crime. 

Under fed­er­al law, if the jury in the penal­ty phase of the tri­al can­not come to a unan­i­mous con­clu­sion, then the judge is required to sen­tence the defen­dant to life with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole. Judge Vernon Broderick accept­ed the jury’s ver­dict form and excused them from any fur­ther delib­er­a­tions. The for­mal sen­tenc­ing will be scheduled later. 

Although the Justice Department in President Biden’s admin­is­tra­tion has defend­ed the cap­i­tal sen­tences and con­vic­tions of the 44 pris­on­ers on the fed­er­al death row, Saipov’s tri­al marked the first time it had sought a new death sen­tence at tri­al. Attorney General Merrick Garland had ear­li­er announced a hold on all fed­er­al exe­cu­tions and Biden him­self had cam­paigned against capital punishment. 

Saipov’s attor­neys argued to the jury that a death sen­tence in this case would not bring more jus­tice: ​“It is not nec­es­sary to kill Sayfullo Saipov,” attor­ney David Patton said. ​“It is not nec­es­sary to keep us or any­one else safe. It is not nec­es­sary to do jus­tice. So we are ask­ing you to choose hope over fear, jus­tice over vengeance and, in the end, life over death.” 

The last state exe­cu­tion in New York was in 1963. Since the fed­er­al death penal­ty was rein­stat­ed in 1988, the Justice Department under pri­or admin­is­tra­tions had pur­sued fed­er­al death penal­ty pros­e­cu­tions in many cas­es in the Southern District of New York, but none have result­ed in a death sentence.