Luigi Mangione was indicted on federal murder charges in the shooting of a UnitedHealth Group Inc. executive, paving the way for U.S. prosecutors to pursue the death penalty against him.
Mangione’s federal case has now been assigned to a U.S. judge, who will rule on disputes in the case and oversee a trial. Mangione has separately been charged by New York state prosecutors with Brian Thompson’s murder and awaits trial.
Mangione, 26, is accused of shooting Thompson outside a hotel in midtown Manhattan before fleeing and touching off a manhunt that ended with his arrest at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
The four-count indictment by a federal grand jury in New York Thursday mirrors the original charges in a criminal complaint filed against Mangione in December. The charging document is a necessary step for federal authorities to prosecute Mangione for Thompson’s murder.
U.S. prosecutors said they would allow the state prosecution to proceed first. No trial date has been set for the state case and Mangione has pleaded not guilty to the state charges, which could lead to a life sentence.
Karen Friedman Agnifilo, a lawyer for Mangione, declined to comment.
The federal charges follow Mangione’s lawyers’ accusations that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi was seeking to politicize the already high-profile case by seeking the death penalty. The move could pit federal prosecutors against the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Bondi announced on April 1 that the U.S. would seek the death penalty against Mangione for committing “a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination.” Days later, Friedman Agnifilo asked a judge to stop the government from pursuing the death penalty, arguing the Justice Department had not offered “even a modicum of process.”
The shooting of Thompson last year drew national attention because of the brazen nature of the crime and the national manhunt that followed. Mangione allegedly waited outside a midtown Manhattan hotel before shooting Thompson, the chief executive of UnitedHealth’s insurance unit, with a 3D-printed ghost gun. UnitedHealth was hosting its investor day at the hotel, where Thompson was slated to speak.
When police arrested him in Altoona, Mangione was carrying a manifesto decrying the health-care industry and a notebook discussing killing a CEO, authorities said.
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