Luigi Mangione's lawyers want death penalty off the table in UnitedHealthcare CEO murder case

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NEW YORK (AP) — Luigi Mangione’s lawyers urged a judge on Saturday to bar federal prosecutors from seeking the death penalty in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, arguing that authorities prejudiced his case by turning his arrest into a “Marvel movie” spectacle and by publicly declaring their desire to see him executed.

Fresh from a legal victory that eliminated terrorism charges in Mangione’s state murder case, his lawyers are now fighting to have his federal case dismissed, seizing on U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s declaration prior to his April indictment that capital punishment is warranted for a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.”

Bondi’s statements and other official actions — including a highly choreographed perp walk that saw Mangione led up a Manhattan pier by armed officers, and the Trump administration’s flouting of established death penalty procedures — “have violated Mr. Mangione’s constitutional and statutory rights and have fatally prejudiced this death penalty case," his lawyers argued in a court filing.

Mangione’s defense team, led by former Manhattan prosecutor Karen Friedman Agnifilo, implored U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett, an appointee of President Joe Biden, ”to correct the errors made by the government and prevent this case from proceeding as a death penalty prosecution."

Bondi announced in April that she was directing Manhattan federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for Mangione. It was the first time the Justice Department said it was bringing a capital case after President Donald Trump returned to office Jan. 20 with a pledge to revive federal executions, which his predecessor Biden had put on hold.

Mangione’s lawyers argue that Bondi’s announcement — which she followed with Instagram posts and a TV appearance — showed the decision was “based on politics, not merit” and, they said, her remarks tainted the grand jury process that resulted in his indictment a few weeks later.

Trump, who oversaw an unprecedented run of 13 executions at the end of his first term, offered his own opinions about Mangione on Thursday — despite court rules that prohibit any pretrial publicity that could interfere with a defendant’s right to a fair trial.

“Think about Mangione. He shot someone in the back, as clear as you’re looking at me or I’m looking at you. He shot — he looked like a pure assassin," Trump told Fox News.

“There is a high bar to dismissing an indictment due to pretrial publicity,” Mangione’s lawyers wrote in their 114-page filing. “However, there has never been a situation remotely like this one where prejudice has been so great against a death-eligible defendant."

Federal prosecutors have until Oct. 31 to respond. Mangione is due back in court in the federal case Dec. 5, days after the start of pretrial hearings in his state case. No trial date has been set for either case.

Mangione, 27, has pleaded not guilty to state and federal murder charges.

Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting Thompson, 50, from behind on Dec. 4, 2024, as he arrived to a Manhattan hotel for his company’s annual investor conference. Police say “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were scrawled on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.

Mangione, the Ivy League-educated scion of a wealthy Maryland family, was arrested five days later in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of Manhattan. Authorities say he had a 9 mm handgun and a notebook describing his intent to “wack” an insurance executive.

Mangione’s lawyers contend the simultaneous prosecutions amount to double jeopardy.

In the federal case, Mangione is charged with murder through use of a firearm, which carries the possibility of the death penalty, as well as stalking and gun offenses.

On Tuesday, the judge in his state case threw out terrorism charges that carried the possibility of a mandatory life sentence without parole. But Judge Gregory Carro rejected the defense’s request to dismiss the state prosecution entirely, saying the double jeopardy argument is premature because neither case has gone to trial or resulted in a guilty plea.

The state case will proceed with other charges, including an intentional murder count that carries a potential punishment of 15 years to life in prison, with the possibility of parole. Unlike the federal system, New York does not have the death penalty.

Mangione has attracted a cult following as a stand-in for frustrations with the health insurance industry.

A few dozen supporters — mostly women — packed three rows in the rear of the courtroom gallery at his hearing Tuesday in state court. Some wore green, the color of the Mario Bros. video game character Luigi, and one woman sported a “FREE LUIGI” T-shirt.