Multiple life terms in the federal supermax prison are possible for Sayfullo Saipov when he’s sentenced Wednesday on terrorism and murder charges for massacring eight and severely wounding 18 by plowing into them with a truck on the Hudson River Park bike path.
A Manhattan federal court jury in January convicted Saipov, 35, of 28 murder and terrorism charges on for the gruesome Oct. 31, 2017 attack.
During the trial’s penalty phase, the jury decided against the death penalty, determining instead that Saipov should spend the rest of his life at ADX Florence in Colorado, the nation’s highest-security prison.
Of the 25 people set to read a victim impact statement at the proceeding, 23 will travel from Argentina and Belgium. Saipov intended to kill Americans to avenge Muslim people worldwide killed by the U.S., but most of his victims were tourists. Many of their loved ones testified at the trial.
Citing Saipov’s “unrelenting commitment to ISIS, his disdain for his victims and their sorrow, and his decision to choose a path of hatred and violence despite having a family that loved him and supported him,” the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office has asked Judge Vernon Broderick to impose eight consecutive life sentences plus 260 years imprisonment.
“The defendant’s conduct before, during, and after his attack warrants a sentence that reflects the extraordinary depravity of his crimes,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Dember wrote in a memo to the court Monday.
Prosecutors, who sought Saipov’s death in its case, said Saipov didn’t express remorse in the attack’s aftermath and has not since.
“Instead, he has remained committed to ISIS and its hateful ideology,” Dember said, referencing an incriminating notebook confiscated from his jail cell last year, which included a sketch “of a truck bearing an ISIS flag, with a mounted gun shooting bullets, and charging toward a bicycle.”
Dember said the scrawlings reflect Saipov’s “continued pride in his attack and his devotion to ISIS as a Soldier of the Caliphate.”
The day of the attack, Saipov rented a flatbed truck in New Jersey, drove into the city over the George Washington Bridge, and then headed downtown, where he swerved right from West St. onto the busy bike path near W. Houston St.
Saipov sped down the path at 66 mph for about 17 blocks, investigators found.
Among those slaughtered in Saipov’s path of destruction was Belgian mom-of-two Ann-Laure Decadt, a 31-year-old who was with her mother and sisters.
Saipov killed five of 10 friends visiting the city from Argentina for a 30-year high school reunion — Hernan Mendoza, Alejandro Pagnucco, Hernan Ferruchi, Diego Angelini, and Ariel Erlij.
And he fatally ran down Darren Drake, a 32-year-old from New Jersey cycling the path, and 23-year-old Nicholas Cleves, who was on his way back to work after running errands.
Saipov injured and maimed many he failed to kill in his bloodthirsty quest, including Marion Van Reeth, who testified about losing her legs as she rode alongside her husband, son, and nephew while they were holidaying in the city from Belgium.
His trail of death and destruction ended after about eight-tenths of a mile when he crashed the truck into a school bus at Chambers St., horrifically injuring an adult and special needs child aboard.
The little girl injured on the bus spent four weeks in intensive care with severe brain injuries leading to loss of speech for a month and the inability to recognize her family or remember her name.
Saipov jumped out of the truck armed with fake guns and shouting “Allahu Akbar,” according to trial testimony. His rampage ended when he was shot by an NYPD officer who came upon the chaotic scene.
When he was being treated for his injuries in hospital, Saipov told detectives his goal had been to kill as many people as possible and asked to hang his ISIS flag on the wall, jurors heard at the trial.
Saipov is also expected to address the court at his sentencing. Prosecutors told Judge Broderick that an Uzbek linguist will monitor his words, which will be translated by an interpreter.
The linguist and interpreter will tell prosecutors if Saipov says anything violating stringent round-the-clock rules restricting how he communicates with the outside world, known as Special Administrative Measures, or SAMS.
“If the defendant makes any statements that violate his SAMs (by, for example, soliciting or encouraging violence by ISIS or others), the linguist will notify the government, and the government will promptly object before the statement is publicly translated into English,” Dember wrote in court papers.
Several of Saipov’s relatives traveled from his native Uzbekistan to take the stand at his trial, denouncing his actions and tearfully telling the jury he became unrecognizable after leaving his native country for the U.S. in 2010 after winning the visa lottery.
Jurors heard about how Saipov became radicalized by online ISIS propaganda after moving to the U.S., which he consumed during his job as a long-haul truck driver.
Saipov’s relatives said he had a loving upbringing in a household that wasn’t strictly religious. They said his family’s values were deeply opposed to his radicalized views.
“He committed a terrible tragedy,” Saipov’s father, Habibulloh Saipov, testified through an interpreter on Feb. 23. “He caused death for eight people and injuries for many more, and he ruined their lives.”
Saipov’s mom told the jury she hoped it would spare his life so he might someday realize what he’d done.
“I will tell his children that he is alive. I think that after many years he will come out as the old Sayfullo,” Mukaddas Saipova testified on Mar. 1. “His children love him very much, and he loves his children very much, too. And they wait for him.”
The “supermax” prison where Saipov will live out his days is called the Alcatraz of the Rockies because of its isolated location. Its inmates include Mexican drug lord Joaquín (El Chapo) Guzmán.
Saipov will be subjected to intense restrictions, including staying in his cell for 23 hours daily with little to no contact with the outside world.