Luigi Mangione’s defense team has requested a federal judge to eliminate the possibility of the death penalty in his case before he is formally charged with federal offenses related to the killing of Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare. Thompson was fatally shot from behind outside a New York City hotel last year.
Prosecutors have objected to the defense’s request, arguing that it is premature to address the removal of the death penalty as Mangione has not yet been indicted or arraigned. Additionally, they have not officially indicated their intention to pursue capital punishment.
However, despite the lack of formal notice, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on April 1 that she had instructed prosecutors to seek the death penalty. The defense team criticized the announcement and the method in which it was made through an Instagram post. They contended that the language used in the post implied Mangione’s guilt before a trial, which could prejudice the ongoing grand jury proceedings. The deadline for filing an indictment is approaching, adding further complexity to the situation.
On Wednesday, Mangione’s attorneys, Karen Friedman Agnifilo and Avi Moskowitz, shot back, accusing the government of violating their client’s right to due process by allegedly violating rules about commenting on a pending case outside the courtroom.
Luigi Mangione is escorted from an NYPD helicopter in New York City Dec. 19, 2024. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)
Central to the issue is the death penalty announcement, which appeared on the Justice Department’s Instagram in a quote attributed to Bondi, which they said was prejudicial to the jury pool.
Mangione’s defense said waiting for an indictment would mean waiting too long.
“Once a prejudiced grand jury returns a death-eligible indictment, it is simply too late,” they argued.
But the defense faces an uphill battle with those arguments of selective prosecution, according to Neama Rahmani, a Los Angeles-based former federal prosecutor who has been following the case.
UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, left, was shot and killed in midtown Manhattan on his way to a shareholder conference. Surveillance cameras captured the ambush. (Businesswire; NYPD Crimestoppers)
“It didn’t work for Donald Trump. It didn’t work for Hunter Biden and it won’t work for Mangione,” he told Fox News Digital. “It’s a very difficult and high legal burden to meet.”
He predicted that the Justice Department under Bondi, a Trump nominee, may begin to more aggressively seek ways to impose the death penalty for crimes committed in blue states that don’t have capital punishment on the books.
“Bigger picture, this may reflect a shift in DOJ policy where they will seek the death penalty in blue states that have a moratorium on or have an outright ban on capital punishment,” he said.
Trump has previously said he wants to expand the federal death penalty to cover more crimes and end a moratorium on federal executions put in place by former President Joe Biden.
Luigi Mangione appears in Manhattan Supreme Court in New York City Dec. 23, 2024. (Curtis Means for DailyMail/Pool)
Thompson, 50, was a father of two visiting New York City for a publicly announced shareholder conference. Mangione is accused of stalking him, then ambushing him outside the conference. He faces numerous charges, including terror-related murder, and allegedly wrote at length about his disgust with the health insurance industry.
Mangione faces charges in New York, Pennsylvania and federal court. He has pleaded not guilty.
