The final phase of the trial against the terrorist who in 2017 killed eight people in New York, including five Argentines, began this Monday with the Prosecutor’s Office asking that he be sentenced to death and ensuring that the man does not regret it or has resigned. to its extremist ideology. (Read: US believes downed flying objects do not belong to China)
Sayfullo Saipov, 35 years old and originally from Uzbekistan, he was already found guilty at the end of January of all counts of murder and terrorism that weighed against them.
Now the same jury that convicted him must decide whether he deserves life in prison or the death penalty, a punishment that is a rarity in New York, a state where no one has been executed since 1963.
“He has no regrets and the tests show that he is dangerous,” Prosecutor Amanda Leigh Houle told the jury this Monday, according to local media.
“And that is why the United States seeks the most severe penalty provided by law, a death sentence,” added Houle, who stressed that Saipov maintains the ideology inspired by the Islamic State (IS) that led him to commit the attack.
(Also: Plane plunges into the ocean just minutes after takeoff)
According to the prosecutor, the man “He is proud of what he did” and “he has not given up his jihad, his fight.”
On the other side, the defense asked the jury to give him life imprisonment, stressing that Saipov will end his life in prison and that it is necessary to “stop the cycle of deaths” at some point.
In a letter sent the day before to the judge, the terrorist’s lawyer argued that the decision of the Prosecutor’s Office to seek the death penalty is “arbitrary”, especially at a time when the federal government has stopped its executions.
(Also: European Parliament approves the ban on gasoline and diesel vehicles)
Saipov’s case represents the first time that the Prosecutor’s Office seeks capital punishment for a defendant during the Joe Biden Administration, who during his electoral campaign promised to eliminate this punishment at the federal level.
The Government of Donald Trump, which resumed federal executions in 2020 after years of paralysis, was the one that authorized the request for this sentence in the event that the terrorist was found guilty by the jury and the position of the prosecutors has been maintained despite the change in the White House.
Biden has imposed a moratorium on federal executions, but if convicted Saipov could face capital punishment if that measure is lifted in the future, for example with a new government.
(Read: Colombia sends support to Turkey due to earthquake: this is the relief team)
For the death penalty to be imposed, there must be unanimity among the twelve members of the jury, who will listen to the arguments of the parties over the next few days before retiring to deliberate; it is enough that only one opposes so that the capital sentence cannot be pronounced.
The case is especially striking because it took place in New York, which has eliminated the death penalty at the state level and where an execution has not been carried out since 1963.
Saipov, who was allegedly inspired by the actions of the Islamic State (IS), intentionally ran over several people who were traveling along a bike path in the Big Apple with a truck that he had rented, leaving eight fatalities and twelve injuries.
According to prosecutors, the man – who had emigrated to the US after obtaining a visa in a lottery – wanted to join IS and numerous videos and images of the terrorist group and its then “emir” were found on his mobile phone.
EFE
#Sayfullo #Saipov #death #penalty #murderer #Argentines #York