Crime
Death penalty phase of trial looms for NYC bike path killer

By Larry Neumeister in New York
NEW YORK (AP) — A jury on Monday will begin considering whether an Islamic extremist who killed eight people on a New York City bike path should get a death sentence, an extraordinarily rare penalty in a state that hasn’t had an execution in 60 years.
Sayfullo Saipov, 35, was convicted last month in the 2017 attack, in which he intentionally drove a truck at high speed down a path along the Hudson River, mowing down bicyclists on a sunny morning hours before the city’s Halloween celebrations.
The same jury that found Saipov guilty will return to work, hearing from additional witnesses in the trial’s penalty phase. Anything less than a unanimous vote for death will mean Saipov will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Saipov’s lawyers hope to convince jurors that a life term is punishment enough for the attack that killed five friends from Argentina, a woman from Belgium and two Americans.
New York does not have capital punishment and hasn’t executed anyone since 1963, but Saipov’s trial is in federal court, where a death sentence is still an option, though one rarely sought with success. The last time a person was executed for a federal crime in New York was in 1954.
President Joe Biden put a moratorium on federal executions after taking office and his Justice Department has not, until now, initiated any new death penalty proceedings.
Saipov’s lawyers have argued it is unconstitutional for prosecutors to seek his execution when the government has stopped seeking death in so many other cases, including some with defendants who killed more people.
“There is no rhyme, reason, or predictability as to why the government chooses to seek death in some murder cases but not in others,” they wrote in one recent court filing.
They noted that then-President Donald Trump quickly urged a death sentence, tweeting a day after the attack that Saipov “SHOULD GET DEATH PENALTY!” The lawyers said it was Trump’s way of furthering “his anti-immigrant agenda.”
“There is a legitimate concern that the death penalty sometimes (and impermissibly) turns on the defendant’s race, ethnicity, national origin, and religious beliefs,” they wrote.
Even in deadlier attacks, including the 2019 racist attack at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, that killed 23 people, death was not sought, the lawyers noted. The gunman in the Walmart attack could still receive the death penalty, however, under separate state capital murder charges in Texas.
The lawyers said it seemed arbitrary for the U.S. Justice Department to “spare some defendants but single out Mr. Saipov, a Muslim immigrant, for the death penalty even though their culpability is arguably greater.”
Prosecutors are expected to focus on Saipov’s victims. In the first phase of his trial, jurors heard from survivors who described the horror and sorrow at losing loved ones and the pain they continue to suffer from injuries. More of that kind of emotional testimony was expected as prosecutors present their case over the next week.
Saipov, meanwhile, has been unrepentant since he was shot after emerging from his truck and waving pellet and paintball guns at a police officer. Later, in a hospital bed, the Uzbekistan citizen smiled as he requested that a flag of the Islamic State group that inspired his rampage be put on his room’s wall, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors plan to introduce evidence intended to show jurors that, if kept alive, Saipov may still be able to communicate with sympathizers.
They noted in one pretrial document that a Federal Bureau of Prisons officer was prepared to testify that Saipov last year asked a guard to give a bag of candy to another inmate who is subject to strict rules to prevent communication with others. The bag, prosecutors said, contained a message for the other inmate saying they soon would be with their fellow religious enthusiasts.
Saipov’s lawyers said even before trial that he would be willing to plead guilty and consent to life in prison if death was not sought.
Any death sentence rendered by the jury would likely by subject to years of appeals.
New York’s last federal death penalty case involved a man who murdered two police officers in 2003. Federal juries in Brooklyn twice imposed a death sentence, first in 2007 and again in 2013, but each time that sentence was ultimately overturned on appeal.
Crime
Minister ‘shocked’ at reports of Paul Bernardo being moved to medium-security prison

Paul Bernardo sits in the back of a police cruiser as he leaves a hearing in St. Catharines, Ont., April 5, 1994. The federal public safety minister says reports of teen killer and serial rapist Paul Bernardo being transferred to a medium-security prison are “shocking and incomprehensible.” THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn
The federal public safety minister says reports of teen killer and serial rapist Paul Bernardo being transferred to a medium-security prison are “shocking and incomprehensible.”
Citing prison union officials and the lawyer for the victims’ families, multiple media outlets say Bernardo was quietly transferred earlier this week to the medium-security La Macaza Institution, about 190 kilometres northwest of Montreal.
He was initially incarcerated at the Kingston Penitentiary in Ontario and later spent about a decade at the Millhaven Institution, a maximum security prison just outside Kingston.
Bernardo has been serving a life sentence for kidnapping, torturing and killing 15-year-old Kristen French and 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy in the early 1990s near St. Catharines, Ont.
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino says he expects the Correctional Service of Canada to take a victim-centred and trauma-informed approach in such cases, and that he plans to address the decision process for the reported transfer with the agency’s commissioner.
The Canadian Press has reached out to the Correctional Service of Canada for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 2, 2023.
Alberta
Father and son charged with sexual exploitation, assault of teenage girls in Calgary

Calgary police say a father and his son have been arrested and charged after multiple teenage girls were sexually exploited, assaulted and extorted for several months. A Calgary Police Service officer is seen in Calgary on April 14, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
Calgary
Calgary police say a father and his son have been arrested and charged after multiple teenage girls were sexually exploited, assaulted and extorted for several months.
Police say in a statement that they found a 13-year-old girl in April who had previously been reported missing.
They say the girl told police she was in a relationship with a 24-year-old man who gave her alcohol, drugs and vapes in exchange for sex.
Police say the man and his 56-year-old father own Haddon Convenience Store, which is located next door to a liquor store where the assaults allegedly took place.
Police allege the pair was providing drugs and alcohol to multiple other teenage girls, who were also sexually assaulted, from December to May.
They say the girls were unable to consent, because they were not 16.
Police arrested both men Thursday and executed search warrants at a home and the two businesses, where they say officers seized a computer with child pornography.
Sumrit Walia, 24, faces about 20 charges — including sexual interference with a minor, sexual exploitation as well as possessing, accessing and creating child pornography.
His 56-year-old father, Gurpartap Singh Walia, is also charged with sexual assault, sexual interference with a minor and selling contraband tobacco.
“These are incredibly serious charges, where vulnerable youths were being targeted, exploited and forced to enter a dangerous lifestyle,” said Staff Sgt. Darren Smith of the child abuse unit.
“Thankfully, with the support of Alberta Health Services, Alberta Gaming Liquor and Cannabis Commission, and the City of Calgary, we have been able to stop the continued exploitation of these young girls.”
The girls, he said, are being supported by Luna Child and Youth Advocacy Centre. It provides support for children, youth and families who have been affected by severe and complex abuse.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 2, 2023.
-
International2 days ago
Notre Dame’s fire-ravaged roof rebuilt using medieval techniques
-
Business2 days ago
Virgin Galactic completes final test flight before launching paying customers to space
-
Disaster2 days ago
India train crash kills over 280, injures 900 in one of nation’s worst rail disasters
-
International2 days ago
‘I will not bend’: MP Jenny Kwan says she won’t allow China to erase history
-
International16 hours ago
Vigilantes in Haiti strike back at gangsters with brutal street justice
-
Crime2 days ago
Minister ‘shocked’ at reports of Paul Bernardo being moved to medium-security prison
-
International2 days ago
First-of-its-kind Mars livestream by ESA spacecraft interrupted at times by rain on Earth
-
Alberta17 hours ago
Saskatchewan landowners fight against illegal drainage washing out land, roads