What’s the status of the US death penalty?
By MICHAEL TARM and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER
Associated Press
The first federal capital case tried under President Joe Biden ended with a split among jurors, meaning the life of an Islamic extremist who killed eight people in a New York City will be spared. It came at a rare federal death penalty trial in a state without the death penalty. That Biden’s Justice Department continued to seek the death penalty for Sayfullo Saipov was a surprise to many given Biden’s opposition to capital punishment. The jury’s failure to reach a unanimous decision means Saipov gets an automatic sentence of life in prison. The death penalty was effectively abolished in New York by 2007.