Luigi Mangione's attorneys want court to block DOJ from seeking death penalty
· UPIApril 11 (UPI) -- Attorneys for Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, wants the federal court in New York to prevent the federal government from seeking the death penalty if he is convicted.
On April 1, Attorney General Palm Bondi said she would seek the death penalty to "carry out President Trump's agenda to stop violent crime and Make America Safe Again." DOJ also published a news release on Instagram about her decision, and Bondi made a television appearance.
Mangione, 26, faces federal charges of using a firearm to commit murder, interstate stalking resulting in death and discharging a firearm equipped with a silencer in a crime on Dec. 4, 2024. He also faces state murder and terrorism charges. He remains in federal custody in Brooklyn.
There is no death penalty in New York.
Defense attorneys Karen Friedman Agnifilo and Avi Moskowitz filed a 33-page motion Friday. A district judge hasn't been assigned to the case and he hasn't been indicted yet.
"When the United States plans to kill one of its citizens, it must follow statutory and internal procedures," they wrote. "Mangione seeks Court intervention now not merely because the Government has failed to follow these procedures but because it has abandoned them."
The attorneys said they didn't get a chance to argue their case before Bondi's decision
"The stakes could not be higher. The United States government intends to kill Mr. Mangione as a political stunt," the defense said. "We appreciate, and will address, the province and discretion of the Executive Branch of government, and how, in the usual course, courts defer to the Executive's established procedures. But the Attorney General's actions and public statements in this case have not followed the usual course.
"Because the Attorney General has chosen to proceed in this way, Mr. Mangione's Due Process rights have already been violated and the manner in which the Government has acted has prejudiced the grand jury pool and has corrupted the grand jury process."
The motion said her decision is "explicitly and wholly political" and it is so far outside the realm of cases where SDNYS has sought the death penalty."
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York has not responded in court.
Mangione has not been arraigned on the federal charges yet. He pleaded not guilty to the 11 state charges.
Also in Pennsylvania, he faces five charges, including gun possession and false ID. He was arrested on Dec. 9, five days after the homicide, in Altoona, about 230 miles west of New York City.
When Mangione was arrested, police said he possessed a two-page handwritten document that railed against the healthcare industry and reportedly included the words "the parasites had it coming."
Mangjone has consented to a federal preliminary hearing under the Speedy Trial Act. The hearing is set for April 18.
On Dec. 19, he appeared before federal Magistrate Judge Katharine H. Parker in Manhattan.
On Feb. 21, he was in State Supreme Court in Manhattan before Judge Gregory Carro. He wore a bullet-proof vest.
Thompson, 50, was killed by a masked gunman on a Manhattan sidewalk while walking to the Hilton Hotel at West 54th Street and Sixth Avenue for an annual investors conference. Mangione wasn't a customer of UnitedHealthcare.
Mangione, who is the grandson of a wealthy real estate developer, has lived in Maryland, Hawaii and Pennsylvania, and traveled to Asia in 2024.
Mangione graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2020 with a bachelor's and master's degree in computer and information science.