NEW YORK -- Federal prosecutors in Manhattan told a judge on Friday that they intend to seek the death penalty if a jury convicts Sayfullo Saipov, the Uzbek man charged in the 2017 truck attack that killed eight people on a crowded Manhattan bike path.
The Halloween Day attack was the deadliest in New York City since Sept. 11, 2001.
The decision to seek capital punishment ultimately rested with Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Saipov's lawyers had asked the judge to block the government from seeking the death penalty, citing tweets by President Donald Trump that called for Saipov's execution.
Shortly after the attack, Trump posted messages on Twitter declaring, in all capital letters, "Should get death penalty" and "Should move fast. Death penalty."
The government's decision was announced in a submission to the judge, Vernon Broderick of U.S. District Court in Manhattan, by the office of Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Federal prosecutors rarely seek the death penalty. In the Southern District, it has not happened since the case of Khalid Barnes, who was convicted in 2008 of two drug-related murders. He was ultimately sentenced to life in prison.
Prosecutors say Saipov, 30, plowed a pickup down a bike path along the Hudson River, killing eight people and injuring 11. The rampage ended when he smashed into a school bus, jumped out of his truck and ran down the highway waving a pellet gun and paintball guns and shouting "God is great" in Arabic. A police officer shot him in the abdomen, stopping him.
Saipov, who faces eight capital counts of murder and other charges, is scheduled for trial on Oct. 7, 2019.
He told authorities after his arrest that he was inspired by Islamic State videos and that he had used a truck as a weapon to inflict maximum damage against civilians, prosecutors said in a criminal complaint.
Although Saipov has pleaded innocent, his lawyers told Broderick in January that Saipov would change his plea to guilty and accept a sentence of life imprisonment if the government agreed not to seek his execution.
Saipov's lawyer, David Patton, who heads the federal public defender's office in Manhattan, said he was disappointed by the attorney general's decision.
"We think the decision to seek the death penalty rather than accepting a guilty plea to life in prison with no possibility of release will only prolong the trauma of these events for everyone involved," he said.
When they sought to bar Sessions from seeking the death penalty, Saipov's lawyers had argued that Trump's tweets and other statements had politicized the decision.
In addition to the president's tweets about Saipov, the lawyers cited a more recent tweet by Trump suggesting that Justice Department charging decisions should be informed by political considerations, as well as reports that Trump had considered firing Sessions for not following his wishes.
"Mr. Sessions works for President Trump and obviously wants to keep his job," Saipov's lawyers wrote. "It defies reality, not to mention all appearances, to believe that he could make a truly independent decision" on the death penalty in Saipov's case.
But Berman's office, in a court filing Friday, called the defense's arguments "speculative and unsupported." The government said Sessions and his staff had reviewed Saipov's case in accordance with the law and Justice Department policy.
"The attorney general appropriately exercised his discretion in determining that the circumstances of this case -- which involve a terrorist attack that caused extensive death and human suffering -- justify the ultimate sanction available," Berman's office wrote.
The government said it was "unremarkable that the president possesses strong views concerning the attack at issue in this case, which constituted one of the most horrific acts of terrorism in this country since September 11, 2001."
The government said Sessions reached his decision after Saipov's lawyers submitted papers arguing for leniency to Berman's office and the Justice Department's capital case unit. They also met with representatives of each office.
Berman had made his own recommendation to the attorney general, which has not been made public. He received the directive from Washington on Thursday to seek the death penalty, the government said.
Among the factors justifying an execution that Berman's office cited were Saipov's lack of remorse, the killing of multiple victims and his targeting of a bike path to "maximize the devastation to civilians" and "instill fear in New Yorkers and tourists."
The government also cited Saipov's likely "future dangerousness." Prosecutors highlighted his "stated intent to continue his attack in New York City had his truck not been rendered inoperable" and his continuing support for the Islamic State.
A Section on 09/30/2018