NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Nicholas Cleves was a New Yorker killed in 2017 when Sayfullo Saipov drove a truck into pedestrians and cyclists on a congested Manhattan bike path. Cleves' mother testified in a quiet courtroom on Wednesday, May 17 that no punishment handed out to Saipov could compare to her pain.
More than 20 victims and family members were heard before US District Judge Vernon Broderick sentenced the 35-year-old Saipov to eight consecutive life terms and an additional 260 years in prison, according to US News. Saipov was automatically granted a life sentence as the jury was unable to reach a verdict on whether to carry out the death penalty. Saipov had used a Home Depot rental truck to murder people along the Hudson River on the West Side of Manhattan. He had hoped that the attack would enable him to join the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, the prosecution said.
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'His barbarism and cruelty fills me with rage'
Monica Missio, the mother of Cleves, said before the murderer was given a life sentence without the possibility of parole, "This evil murderer has destroyed so many lives," according to US News. Saipov was found guilty of the assault, which left eight people dead and 12 injured, and was charged with murder and terrorism.
Missio added, "It disgusts me that he gets to wake up every day while my son does not. His barbarism and cruelty fills me with rage." The attack's survivor, Rachel Pharn, expressed her desire to understand Saipov's motivations.
Pharn said, "Mr. Saipov, I can forgive you for what you did to me, for breaking my spirit. But when I look around the room, when I think of all the pain you caused, that I cannot forgive. That is between you, them and Allah," according to US News.
'The conduct in this case is among the worst'
The majority of those who appeared at the hearing had traveled from Argentina and Belgium, and many of those who died or were hurt in the attack were foreign visitors to New York. Saipov's case was the first federal court trial involving the death penalty since Democratic President Joe Biden assumed office in 2021.
Saipov appeared in front of the court prior to being given a sentence, appearing to glorify the Islamic State and saying that his victims had it less worse than Muslims all around the world. He said, "I was here in the court during the three-month trial, and I saw and I heard the victims, families and friends," according to US News.
Saipov continued, "The court would be filled up with the tears and blood of the Muslim population." He is believed to be kept at Colorado's Supermax facility, the most guarded US federal prison, where he will likely be left alone for 22 or 23 hours each day in a cell with a concrete bed.
Prior to handing down Saipov's sentence, the judge said, "The conduct in this case is among the worst if not the worst I've ever seen, both in terms of the impact it had on the victims and on the sheer unrepentant nature of the defendant," according to US News.
