The lawyers of Luigi Mangione They asked a federal judge in New York on Saturday that prosecutors were prevented from requesting the death penalty for their client, accused of murdering the executive president of UnitedHaalthcare, Brian Thompson.
In a letter filed before the court, The lawyers De Mangione argued that the officials of the United States Department of Justice should be prevented from requesting the death penalty due to the actions that had violated their procedural rights.
Among them, “the organization of a ‘dehumanizer and unconstitutional walk, in which it was televised, video recorded and photographed down from a helicopter with cracks on its way to its initial appearance.”
“Due to the flagrant, intentional and harmful nature of this torrent of prejudices by multiple public officials, mainly the United States attorney general, from the beginning of this case to the vote of the Grand Jury on April 17, 2025, the accusation of death penalty against Mr. Mangione must be dismissed,” says the motion.
Mangione has declared himself innocent of death on December 4 of Thompson, who directed the UNH.N insurance unit of United Group. Thompson was shot dead at the exit of a hotel in the center of Manhattan where the company’s executives attended an investment conference.
Public officials condemned the murderbut many Americans expressed their sympathy for Mangione, 27, saying that they shared their frustration for the high costs of health care in the United States and the power of medical insurers to refuse to pay some treatments.
The concern for the climb of political violence in the United States has increased since the murder of Thompson, especially after the murder last week of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Manhattan Prosecutor’s Prosecutors They have until October 31 to defend the maintenance of the death penalty As an option if Mangione is declared guilty. He faces positions of interstate harassment and murder.
The case is supervised by the Margaret Garnett district judge. When requesting the death penalty for Mangione, Attorney General Pam Bondi described Thompson’s death on April 1 of “premeditated murder and cold blood that shocked the United States.”
Mangione’s lawyers have described that announcement as “political without palliative”, and have said that Prosecutors breached normal protocols not first conducting a long investigation or giving defense lawyers the opportunity to oppose.
