(AP) Deliberations that began Wednesday in the trial of a man charged with killing eight people along a Manhattan bike path quickly hit a snag, as jurors sent the judge a note asking if he would face new criminal charges if they acquit him.
The query only an hour into the jury’s deliberations was a surprising twist in the trial of Sayfullo Saipov, whose lawyers admit that he rented a truck and drove onto the Hudson River path on Halloween in 2017, killing eight cyclists and injuring about a dozen other people.
The defense argued that jurors should acquit Saipov of certain charges, particularly racketeering counts, if they find that he did not kill people to gain membership to the Islamic State group, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. The note seemed to indicate that some jurors believe the argument pertained to all charges.
