First modification:
Sayfullo Saipov, a radicalized Uzbek who killed eight cyclists and pedestrians with a vehicle in New York in 2017, was found guilty on January 26 of 28 counts by a federal jury in Manhattan, where he faces the death penalty.
Unanimously, the 12-member jury that was to deliver the verdict in the trial against the terrorist Sayfullo Saipov announced its decision: guilty.
While the 28 charges were being read and the word “guilty” continued to sound like thunder in Judge Vernon Broderick’s precinct, the Argentine Luciana Martínez tightly gripped the hand of the American Monica Missio.
That October 31, 2017, when the Uzbek Saipov rammed a truck into cyclists and pedestrians on a bike lane in lower Manhattan, they both lost loved ones, one her husband and the other her only 23-year-old son.
Death penalty?
In total, in the Halloween attack – as it is called because of the date it occurred – there were eight fatalities and 12 injuries. Several of them, such as the Belgian Marion Van Reeth who had to have both legs amputated, testified at the trial.
This guilty verdict opens the door to the second phase of this judicial process, in which, as of February 6, close relatives of the deceased are expected to speak and narrate how the attack changed their lives forever.
Then it will be in the hands of the jury to decide if Saipov deserves the death penalty – guaranteed in cases like this, related to terrorism – or life imprisonment.
