MANHATTAN (CN) — The U.S. Department of Justice will seek the death penalty for Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old Maryland man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December, according to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“Luigi Mangione’s murder of Brian Thompson — an innocent man and father of two young children — was a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America,” Bondi said in a statement on Tuesday. “I have directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in this case as we carry out President Trump’s agenda to stop violent crime and make America safe again.”
Mangione is accused, in separate federal and state murder charges, of gunning down Thompson outside of a New York City hotel on the morning of Dec. 4, 2024. A manhunt ensued after security camera footage of the killing quickly spread on social media, and Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, five days later.
The incident shook health care and business circles, while empowering critics of the United States’ medical-industrial complex. Prior to the murder, Mangione had written extensively about his disdain for the for-profit health care industry. When he was arrested, police found a notebook that expressed resentment for the wealthy executives of health insurance companies.
As a result, Mangione’s court appearances thus far have attracted fanfare from supporters who have fawned over Mangione’s looks, his supposed motivations, or both.
President Donald Trump is not a fan. In the weeks following Thompson’s killing, Trump slammed Mangione supporters as having a “sickness.”
“I think it’s a really terrible thing that some people seem to admire him, like him,” Trump said at a news conference on Dec. 17, 2024.
Shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, Trump signed an executive order that requires the attorney general to pursue the death penalty “for all crimes of a severity demanding its use,” ending a moratorium on federal executions that was enacted by his predecessor, Joe Biden. Bondi said Tuesday that the decision to pursue the death penalty for Mangione is in line with her office’s commitment to follow Trump’s order.
In a statement Tuesday, Mangione’s lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo said her client is caught in a “high-stakes game of tug-of-war between state and federal prosecutors, except the trophy is a young man’s life.”
“By seeking to murder Luigi Mangione, the Justice Department has moved from the dysfunctional to the barbaric,” Agnifilo said in a statement. “Their decision to execute Luigi is political and goes against the recommendation of the local federal prosecutors, the law, and historical precedent. While claiming to protect against murder, the federal government moves to commit the pre-meditated, 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.”
Mangione has still not been indicted federally. He is charged in a federal complaint with one count of murder through use of a firearm, one count of firearms offense and two stalking charges. But a federal grand jury has not signed off on an indictment yet.
He has been indicted for murder on a state level, though. Manhattan prosecutors secured a grand jury indictment against Mangione on Dec. 17 charging him with one count of first degree murder in furtherance of terrorism, among other charges related to the killing.
Mangione is not up for the death penalty in that case, as New York has a ban on capital punishment dating back to 2004. Instead, he faces a maximum punishment of life in prison for the state charges.
Prosecutors have previously indicated that Mangione’s dueling state and federal cases will proceed parallel with one another, with the state charges expected to go to trial first.
Mangione also faces firearm and forgery charges in Pennsylvania, but that case is on ice as the more pressing murder cases play out in New York.
His last appearance was for the New York state case on Feb. 21 in Manhattan criminal court. The hearing itself was merely a scheduling conference, but prosecutors revealed after the fact that court officers had confiscated a pair of heart-shaped notes in a package of socks meant for Mangione to wear in court that day.
“Know there are thousands of people wishing you luck,” said one note addressed to Mangione.
Mangione is due back in that courthouse on June 26. No trial date has been set in any of his cases.