New York attacker receives eight life sentences, 260 years in prison
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The Uzbek, Sayfullo Saipov, the man who was convicted of killing eight people by driving a truck on Manhattan bike path in New York City in 2017, received “eight consecutive life sentences plus 260 years in prison,” US Attorney’s Office of Southern District of New York said on Wednesday.
United States District Judge Vernon S. Broderick sentenced Saipov to eight consecutive life sentences, two concurrent life sentences, and a consecutive sentence of 260 years in prison for carrying out the terrorist attack on October 31, 2017, in the name of the Islamic State (ISIS).
In March, up on failure to reach a unanimous decision for a death sentence, a federal jury sentenced Saipov to a life sentence in prison without parole.
He was convicted in January by the same jury of committing murder with a goal of joining ISIS, and he planned the attack and showed no regret after the killings.
US Attorney Damian Williams said, “The Court issued the maximum possible penalty on each count of conviction and ordered that eight of Saipov’s life sentences along with 260 years in prison will run consecutively to the other sentences imposed.”
The sentences, according to Williams, account for “the eight lives Saipov stole… the eighteen attempted murders Saipov cruelly committed.”
Saipov will spend his life in prison “for brutally murdering eight innocent victims during his carefully calculated ISIS terrorist attack,” said Attorney General, Merrick B. Garland.
Five Argentinian tourists, two Americans and a Belgian woman were killed in the attack.
Saipov’s case is the first federal death penalty trial since President Joe Biden came to power.