Sayfullo Saipov found guilty of murder and terrorism charges for West Side bike path massacre
Sayfullo Saipov dreamed of martyrdom and being greeted by 72 maidens in the afterlife — he’s getting a prison sentence instead.
Saipov, 34, was found guilty of 28 murder and terrorism charges in Manhattan Federal Court Thursday for massacring eight people on the Hudson River Park bike path in a Halloween horror more than five years ago.
Jurors took about seven hours over the course of two days to reach their verdict. They began hearing testimony on Jan. 9 about the gruesome attack that also seriously injured 11 people. Saipov showed little emotion and lowered his head as the panel’s decision was read aloud shortly after 3 p.m.
Saipov was found guilty of eight counts of murder in aid of racketeering and one count of violence and destruction of motor vehicles, which could result in a death sentence or life in prison. He was also convicted of eight counts of assault with a dangerous weapon and attempted murder in aid of racketeering, 10 counts of attempted murder in aid of racketeering, and one count of providing and attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.
Nick Biase, a spokesman for Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, declined to comment on the verdict as the case is not over. Judge Vernon Broderick set a tentative Feb. 6 hearing date for the next phase of the case, when the same jury that convicted Saipov will determine whether the government should execute him for his crimes.
Prosecutors said Saipov chose a 6,000-pound flatbed truck as his weapon, the busy bike path as his venue, and Halloween as the time to carry out the carnage to maximize his death toll.
He sought to realize his goal of joining the Islamic State terror group by killing Americans on their home turf, authorities said. Most victims were tourists.
Saipov first killed Ann-Laure Decadt, 31, a Belgian mother of two, who was cycling with her mother and two sisters.
He then killed five men from Argentina, Hernán Mendoza, Diego Angelini, Alejandro Pagnucco, Ariel Erlij, and Hernan Ferruchi. They were in the city with five other friends from high school to celebrate 30 years of friendship, jurors heard in trial testimony. Only half the group made it home.
The last lives he claimed were Darren Drake, 32, of New Jersey, and 23-year-old New Yorker Nicholas Cleves.
Jurors heard gut wrenching testimony from the victims’ loved ones, along with NYPD officers and FBI agents. They saw disturbing videos during the trial of Saipov plowing down the bike path in a truck he rented from a Passaic, N.J. Home Depot.
Armed with two fake pistols, a bag of knives and a note in his phone that read, There is no God but Allah, Muhammad, Saipov headed south on the West Side Highway, swung a right on Houston St., and carved a mile-long path of terror along the protected bike lane.
After slamming into poles on the roadway, he went airborne and crashed into a school bus, injuring a woman and child and ending his trail of death. Saipov jumped out of the vehicle and faced a barrage of bullets from NYPD Officer Ryan Nash, who came upon the chaotic scene.
Saipov’s lawyers didn’t dispute their clients’ murderous actions and focused their defense on his motives. David Patton said Saipov didn’t plan to live to join ISIS but planned to die a martyr — an idea he got from reading conspiracy theories online while working as a long-haul truck driver after emigrating to the U.S. from Uzbekistan.
The father of three, who was living in Paterson, N.J. at the time of the attack, emigrated to the U.S. in 2010. He previously lived in Florida and Ohio.
After undergoing surgery for his gunshot wounds, a hospitalized Saipov told federal agents that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the world’s most wanted terrorist, told him to do it.
But Patton said it wasn’t credible to suggest Baghdadi reached out to “an Uber driver in Paterson, New Jersey.” He said there was no two-way communication, even if Saipov believed there was.
“This was coming from the material that was just swimming on the internet out there,” Patton said in his closing argument.
“If you have bought into this martyrdom notion, this is key, that you only get paradise and safety from doomsday and bringing your family with you and the 72 maidens and all of that only comes if the intention is pure, and it is not to join an organization.”
Saipov wasn’t the only person convicted of terrorism in Manhattan on Thursday.
Across the street in Manhattan Supreme Court, a jury convicted Jamaican cleric Shaikh Faisal, 56, also known as Trevor William Forrest, of recruiting people to join ISIS. Prosecutors described him as one of the world’s most influential English-speaking terrorists.
