The feds have now charged the UnitedHealthcare CEO suspect. Could he soon face the death penalty?
Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, will now face federal charges in addition to the New York state murder indictment already brought against him, according to reports.
Federal charges – which will be brought by prosecutors from the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, according to The New York Times – would potentially allow prosecutors to pursue the death penalty should Mangione, 26, ultimately be found guilty of murder, capital punishment having been outlawed in New York for decades.
According to documents unsealed on Thursday, and a sworn affidavit by an FBI agent, federal prosecutors intend to charge him with murder through use of a firearm, two stalking charges and a firearms offense.
The documents do not specify whether the death penalty will be sought, with the matter likely to be decided by incoming president Donald Trump’s new-look Justice Department next year.
The development comes after Mangione appeared in a Pennsylvania courtroom on Thursday and formally waived his right to an extradition hearing before being returned to New York.
Earlier this week, the suspect was formally indicted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on three murder charges over the attack on Thompson, 50, who was shot dead outside of the Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan on December 4 by a masked assailant armed with a handgun who had lain in wait for him.
The incident led to a five-day manhunt, culminating in Mangione being arrested at a branch of McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on December 9 after local police received a tip-off from a fellow customer responding to an image of the shooter circulated by the NYPD.
He was found to have a pistol, ammunition and fake identification cards about his person, as well as a 262-word “manifesto” denouncing the American healthcare system, having recently undergone back surgery.
In bringing the charges, Bragg called the episode “a frightening, well-planned, targeted murder that was intended to cause shock and attention and intimidation”.
The toughest penalty Mangione could face in state court, should he be convicted of Thompson’s murder, would be life imprisonment without parole, which the Justice Department could deem insufficient.
“The state case will proceed in parallel with any federal case,” said Danielle Filson, a spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
“This defendant brazenly shot Mr Thompson point blank on a Manhattan sidewalk.
“The Manhattan DA’s office, working with our partners at the NYPD, is dedicated to securing justice for this heinous murder with charges of murder in the first degree.”
Karen Friedman Agnifilo, Mangione’s lawyer, said in a statement that the Southern District’s involvement in the case raised a number of issues she found disconcerting.
“The federal government’s reported decision to pile on top of an already overcharged first-degree murder and state terror case is highly unusual and raises serious constitutional and statutory double jeopardy concerns,” she said. “We are ready to fight these charges in whatever court they are brought.”
The suspect’s supporters continue to donate generously to a “defense” fund set up on his behalf after he became a problematic folk hero to some during his flight from justice.
The anonymous fund, “The December 4th Legal Committee”, had amassed almost $157,000 in donations via the crowdfunding website GiveSendGo at the time of writing.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro has already been forced to denounce “vigilante justice” in response to the dark fandom Mangione has attracted.
“In America, we do not kill people in cold blood to resolve policy differences or express a viewpoint,” he said in the aftermath of the suspect’s arrest.
“In some dark corners, this killer is being hailed as a hero. Hear me on this: he is no hero.”
