Attorneys for Luigi Mangione, the man accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in a startling light strike in December 2024, are urging a federal judge to stop the Trump administration from prosecuting the death penalty, calling it a “political prank” motivated by the government’s crime plan.
In a court filing filed on Friday in Manhattan federal court, Mangione’s defense team sharply criticized attorney general Pam Bondi, who earlier this month ordered federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in the high-profile case.
Bondi claimed the killing was an “act of political violence” and that it was in line with US President Donald Trump’s pledge to” Make America Safe Again” by reducing violent crime.
Lawyers for Mangione claimed Bondi abused the justice system’s standard procedures and that the government had used them to evade execution.
According to The Hill,” The United States government intends to kill Mr. Mangione as a political stunt.” They claimed that their client’s due process rights were harmed by the attorney general’s “explicitly and unapologetically political” decision.
Mangione, a 26-year-old graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, allegedly shot Thompson outside a Hilton Hotel on December 4 after traveling from Atlanta to New York City and followed him there.
Apparently, the CEO was present at a UnitedHealth Group investor event. The suspect fled the scene, according to federal prosecutors, using a pistol and a silencer. He was discovered five days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, following a staff tip.
He has been charged both in federal and state court in New York. He has not entered a plea in the federal case despite having pleaded not guilty in the state case, where life without parole is the maximum sentence.
A grand jury trial is still pending. He is accused of murder, stalking, and possessing firearms, according to CNBC.
The attorney general’s office allegedly gave the defense no time to prepare a mitigation submission, which is a common practice in federal death penalty cases. They claimed that” Mr. Mangione’s counsel requested three months to prepare a thorough mitigation submission, which was ignored.”
Further, they further challenged Bondi’s decision-making process, claiming it was solely driven by presidential priorities. The Attorney General was obviously only concerned with” the President’s directive,” the filing read, according to The Hill, and any mitigation would have ultimately fallen on deaf ears.
The public’s opinion of the case has been wildly dissented. While the murder shocked many, some social media users have portrayed Mangione as a sign of outrage over America’s private healthcare system. Bondi and Thompson’s death sparked a lot of discussion, with Thompson claiming that it “may have posed grave risk of death to additional persons” in AFP.
The defense has now requested that all internal and external communications regarding the death penalty decision be handled, alleging that the procedure has been irreparably compromised.
