Defense attorneys for alleged CEO killer Luigi Mangione said Thursday in a new court filing that the murder indictment a state grand jury returned against him should be dismissed due to double jeopardy and other alleged violations.
The indictment should be dismissed “because concurrent state and federal prosecutions violate the Double Jeopardy Clause, the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause and Mr. Mangione’s constitutional rights against self-incrimination, to meaningfully defend himself, to a fair and impartial jury and to the effective assistance of counsel,” defense attorneys wrote.
Defense attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo said in the filing that “prosecutorial one-upmanship” resulted in Mangione facing state and federal charges in New York and separate charges in Pennsylvania.
Luigi Mangione appears in court for a hearing, Feb. 21, 2025, in New York.
Steven Hirsch/New York Post via AP
Agnifilo wrote, “377 people were murdered in New York City in 2024; only one, however-the December 4, 2024, shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson-has led to a legal tug-of-war between state and federal prosecutors as they fight for who controls the fate of 26-year-old Luigi Mangione.”
Attorneys for Mangione, who has pleaded not guilty to the December murder of Thompson, also argued that the terrorism upgrade added by the Manhattan district attorney’s office should be tossed out because “evidence failed to establish the required element that Mr. Mangione intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population” or influence the policies of government.
To prosecutors, the first-degree murder charge is warranted because of the words detectives said they found on shell casings – delay, deny, depose – that are often associated with insurance claims. They’ve also pointed to passages of Mangione’s writings, which described Mangione’s deepening fixation on UnitedHealthcare and an increasing malice over the corporation’s purported greed.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to federal charges that could result in the death penalty if he is convicted.
“Forcing Mr. Mangione to defend himself in the instant case will remove rights afforded to him in the death penalty case,” Agnifilo wrote in the filing.
Mangione’s attorneys also sought to suppress statements he made to authorities in Altoona, Pennsylvania, where he was arrested after a five-day manhunt and where “officers failed to provide him with Miranda warnings,” according Thursday’s court filing.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
