The person who killed eight individuals on a Manhattan bike path 5 years in the past in a bid to impress a terrorist group was completely happy and proud when he met FBI brokers later that day, a prosecutor informed jurors in a closing argument on Tuesday.
Assistant U.S. Legal professional Jason Richman mentioned Sayfullo Saipov was smiling when he requested to hold the flag of the Islamic State group in his Manhattan hospital room after the Oct. 31, 2017 assault he carried out with a rushing rental truck.
Saipov, 34, allegedly steered the truck onto a motorcycle path alongside the Hudson River and the West Facet Freeway that’s common with vacationers and Manhattan residents, mowing down bike riders.
Richman urged jurors to convict Saipov of all costs in a case that might outcome within the demise penalty. If the jury returns a responsible verdict on all costs after beginning deliberations Wednesday, a penalty part of the trial will start every week later. Except jurors unanimously select demise, the sentence could be life in jail.
People who had been injured or misplaced family members by the hands of the Uzbek man had been amongst those that testified throughout the trial.
“He targeted his victims without mercy,” Richman mentioned. That evening, the prosecutor added, “he smiled. He was proud. He was proud of what he had completed that day. He was completely happy concerning the terrorist assault … He had completed what he got here to do.”
Richman mentioned Saipov solely stopped his motorized rampage when he struck a small faculty bus, injuring kids. In any other case, he mentioned, Saipov deliberate to go to the Brooklyn Bridge and kill as many individuals as he may there. He was arrested after he pointed black pellet and paintball weapons at a police officer, who shot him.
For the primary time, video is displaying how the rental truck rampage on a Hudson River bike path in 2017 started, and the violent impression it made on a faculty bus full of scholars. NBC New York’s Chris Jose studies.
Through the trial, protection attorneys have not contested that Saipov carried out the assault.
However they are saying he ought to be acquitted of a racketeering cost as a result of prosecutors had been mistaken to assert that he carried out the assault in order that the Islamic State group would let him turn into a member.
Protection lawyer David Patton mentioned Saipov was anticipating to die within the assault.
“He did not expect to be here before all of you and did not expect to be joining any organization,” Patton mentioned. And that, he added, means Saipov isn’t responsible of racketeering.
The video reveals how police shot the accused terrorist after he drove a rental truck down a motorcycle path killing eight individuals. It was simply a part of the proof performed for the jury — who may resolve whether or not the suspect will get the demise penalty. NBC New York’s Jonathan Dienst studies.
Patton mentioned that to do one thing (*8*) as what his shopper did, he needed to already contemplate himself a member of the Islamic State group.
He mentioned Saipov had an “expectation that he would die by police shooting.”
Saipov, who has been imprisoned with out bail for the reason that assault, legally moved to the U.S. from Uzbekistan in 2010. He lived in Ohio and Florida earlier than becoming a member of his household in Paterson, New Jersey.