By: Benyamin Davidsons
Throughout the 2020 presidential race, President Joe Biden had vowed to eliminate the federal death penalty. His campaign website clearly stated that if elected he would “work to pass legislation to eliminate the death penalty at the federal level, and incentivize states to follow the federal government’s example”.
The NY Post has been contacted by legal experts who complain that the President failed to make good on his promise, and it is now leading to a costly capital prosecution case. After Biden was inaugurated into the White House, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a moratorium on federal executions. The White House, however, never followed up by issuing a policy on the death penalty. “There is no White House policy with respect to the death penalty,” Robert Dunham, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, told The Post. As a result of this void, the Department of Justice is responsible to make death penalty determinations on a case-by-case basis. “There’s no question that the failure to set a policy to implement his campaign promise has resulted in the Justice Department taking action in individual cases that contradicts his campaign promise,” Dunham said.
On Monday, taxpayer dollars will be on the line at the opening statements in the start of the trial in the prosecution of Sayfullo Saipov, who is accused of carrying out a terrorist attack on the West Side Highway bike path. An immigrant from Uzbekistan, Saipov allegedly killed eight people by slamming into a crowd on a bike path with a truck in Lower Manhattan on Halloween in 2017. The trial, presided by Judge Vernon Broderick in Manhattan Federal court, is expected to last three months, with the jury sitting in from Mondays through Thursdays, per CNN. Saipov is the first person to face federal charges that could result in the death penalty under President Biden’s administration.
As per the Post, lawyers for Saipov have said that the accused ISIS-inspired terrorist is willing to plead guilty and serve life in prison. Without clear policy, however, federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, with the case now in full swing. Attorney Jeffrey Lichtman, who has represented famous thugs including Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and John Gotti Jr., told the Post that the decision to seek the death penalty in the case is “idiotic”, and will waste millions of dollars in taxpayer money. “This is just Biden trying to appear tough on crime. No other rational explanation.” Lichtman added.
Even if the jury were to find him guilty and he were sentenced to the death penalty, the DOJ still has an active moratorium on executions. “Even If the death penalty is in fact imposed, the moratorium would likely prevent Saipov’s execution, at the very least, during Biden’s presidency,” said Julie Rendelman, a top NYC defense attorney. “However, that does not mean it will never be imposed when and if a new president with potentially differing positions on the death penalty is elected,” she added.
Federal authorities in New York have not carried out a death penalty since 1953.
