Emotional testimony from bereaved family members during Sayfullo Saipov death penalty phase of trial

NEW YORK - There was emotional testimony Wednesday from the families of victims killed in the terror attack on the West Side bike path. 

Sayfullo Saipov was convicted of killing eight people and injuring a dozen others back in 2017. 

Jurors in federal court will determine if he gets the death penalty. 

As a child, 23-year-old Nicholas Cleves learned to ride a bicycle near the Hudson River. Wednesday, jurors were shown a photo of his lifeless body on that bike path. 

His mother told the court excrutiating pain "consumed me and has never left since." 

She continues to live in the West Village apartment she shared with her son, and has left his room as is. His Halloween costume is still laid out for that evening. 

She spoke to him on the phone just before the attack. 

"I'll see you in a few minutes," he said. 

She described the frantic search at various hospitals to try to find him when he never showed. 

Through tears Lina Ferrucci told the court about her airport goodbye to her father Hernan. 

"I didn't hug him," she said. "I said it's just one week." 

Her mother testified it was her husband's first ever flight, and he worried about how the family would manage while he was away with nine other friends from Argentina on a trip to New York City.

"It wasn't just going to be the week. It was going to be the rest of our lives," she said. 

In addition to hearing about the impact of the loss of each of the eight victims, jurors are listening to the prosecution argue in favor of a sentence of death because, they say, Saipov remains a danger. 

A Bureau of Prisons employee Testified Tuesday Saipov was upset one day about an overnight officer officer keeping him awake, so he covered the camera in his cell and he said he was "not uncovering the camera until his head is chopped off." 

She said she was scared about what he might do that day, or the next. 

The defense countered on cross examination that nothing ever happened that day or the next, and that if she was scared she had multiple security options. 

Much like the liability phase of the trial, the defense has not been cross examining survivors or family members of victims during the penalty phase. 

They did not present a case then, but during this phase say they plan to have members of Saipov's family take the stand to argue for life in prison, not the death penalty.