Attorneys for Sayfullo Saipov are seeking to strike the government's decision to seek the death penalty, in part because of what the defense said was possible ethnic or religious discrimination.
"And given the recent decision to accept Patrick Crusius's guilty plea to life imprisonment despite his unrepentant and premeditated hate killing of 23 Latinos at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas -- Crusius being a white, U.S.-born citizen -- the Court should have significant concern that a driving force behind the death notice in this case is Mr. Saipov's religion and national origin, in violation of the Fifth and Eighth Amendments," defense attorney David Patton said.
Saipov is willing to plead guilty, waive all appeals and consent to lifetime imprisonment under strict conditions that will all but eliminate his third-party communications for the foreseeable future, Patton said. A law enforcement officer walks by a crime scene Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2017, the day after a driver mowed down people on a riverfront bike path near the World Trade Center in New York.There was no immediate response from the government, which has previously defended its discretion to pursue capital punishment. The penalty phase of Saipov's case is scheduled to begin Monday.
If the judge is unwilling to strike the death penalty, the defense said he should at least order federal prosecutors to reveal evidence behind the decision.
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