US Justice Department Moves to Seek Death Penalty for Luigi Mangione

[Social Media]

 

The US Justice Department will pursue the death penalty against Luigi Mangione, who stands accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Midtown Manhattan. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the decision on Tuesday, stating that if Mangione is convicted on capital murder charges, she will instruct interim US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Matthew Podolsky, to seek the ultimate punishment.

 

Mangione is facing both state and federal charges for allegedly shooting Thompson in December. He has pleaded not guilty to the state charges, and while he has been charged in a federal criminal complaint, an indictment on those charges has yet to be issued.

 

Karen Friedman Agnifilo, Mangione’s attorney, expressed strong opposition to the Justice Department’s stance. "Their decision to execute Luigi is political and goes against the recommendation of the local federal prosecutors, the law, and historical precedent," Agnifilo said in a statement. She further condemned the move, calling it a shift from "the dysfunctional to the barbaric." Criticizing the federal government’s approach, she stated, "While claiming to protect against murder, the federal government moves to commit the premeditated, state-sponsored murder of Luigi. By doing this, they are defending the broken, immoral, and murderous healthcare industry that continues to terrorize the American people."

 

A spokesperson for the US Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the matter. The Justice Department’s decision aligns with the Trump administration’s broader policy on the death penalty. Upon taking office in January, President Donald Trump issued an executive order instructing the attorney general to "pursue the death penalty for all crimes of a severity demanding its use."

 

 

Mangione faces several federal charges, including murder through use of a firearm, two stalking charges, and a firearms offense. In February, his legal team expanded to include Avraham Moskowitz, a seasoned attorney who has represented over 50 defendants in death penalty-eligible cases in New York.

 

Mangione is currently held in federal custody in Brooklyn, though state proceedings in New York are set to move forward first. He was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury on 11 counts, including first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder, weapons offenses, and forgery. If convicted on the state charges, he faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.

 

Prosecutors allege that the first-degree murder charge stems from Mangione killing Thompson "in furtherance of an act of terrorism," defined by law as intending to intimidate or coerce a civilian population or government entity. One of the second-degree murder charges similarly classifies the act as a "crime of terrorism."

 

The 26-year-old also faces charges in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested after a weeklong manhunt in December. Authorities apprehended him at a McDonald’s, recovering an untraceable "ghost gun" and a notebook containing detailed plans they claim demonstrate a premeditated homicide involving the stalking of his victim.

 

Mangione has garnered significant public attention and support, with backers raising over $700,000 to fund his legal defense.

 

During his first term, Trump’s administration resumed federal executions after a nearly two-decade hiatus, overseeing the execution of 13 inmates in the final months before he left office. Throughout his 2024 campaign, Trump signaled an intent to continue federal executions if re-elected.

 

President Joe Biden, however, intervened by commuting the death sentences of 37 federal death row inmates, reducing them to life in prison. Only three individuals, convicted of high-profile mass shootings or terrorism-related acts, remained eligible for execution.

 

Upon taking office in early February, Bondi reinforced Trump’s stance, criticizing Biden’s commutations as actions that "severely undermined the rule of law" and "betrayed our sacred duty and broke our promise to achieve justice." She declared, "This shameful era ends today," announcing the lifting of a federal execution moratorium imposed during the Biden administration. "Going forward, the Department of Justice will once again act as the law demands – including by seeking death sentences in appropriate cases and swiftly implementing those sentences in accordance with the law."

 

 

Based on a report by CNN  2025-04-02

 

 

[flyingtlger]

[hotsun]

That would piss off a lot of leftists on social media. I approve

[stevenl]

I don't see terrorism in this.