FILE PHOTO: Luigi Mangione, the suspect within the killing of UnitedHealth Group chief govt Brian Thompson, seems in Manhattan Supreme Court docket on New York state homicide and terrorism fees in New York Metropolis, U.S., February 21, 2025.
Curtis Means | By way of Reuters
Legal professionals for Luigi Mangione requested a New York federal choose Saturday to dismiss some felony fees, together with the one depend for which he may face the demise penalty, from a federal indictment introduced in opposition to him within the December assassination of UnitedHealth’s chief govt.
In papers filed in Manhattan federal court docket, the legal professionals mentioned prosecutors also needs to be prevented from utilizing at trial his statements to regulation enforcement officers and his backpack the place a gun and ammunition had been discovered.
They mentioned Mangione was not learn his rights earlier than he was questioned by regulation enforcement officers, who arrested him after Brian Thompson was fatally shot as he arrived at a Manhattan resort for an investor convention.
They added that officers didn’t acquire a warrant earlier than looking Mangione’s backpack.
Mangione, 27, has pleaded not responsible to state and federal fees within the deadly taking pictures of Brian Thompson on Dec. 4 as he arrived at a Manhattan resort for his firm’s annual investor convention.
The killing set off a multi-state search after the suspected shooter slipped away from the scene and rode a motorcycle to Central Park, earlier than taking a taxi to a bus depot that provides service to a number of close by states.
5 days later, a tip from a McDonald’s about 233 miles (375 kilometers) away in Altoona, Pennsylvania, led police to arrest Mangione. He has been held with out bail since then.
Final month, legal professionals for Mangione requested that his federal fees be dismissed and the demise penalty be taken off the desk on account of public feedback by U.S. Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi. In April, Bondi directed prosecutors in New York to hunt the demise penalty, calling the killing of Thompson a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.”
Homicide circumstances are normally tried in state courts, however prosecutors have additionally charged Mangione beneath a federal regulation on murders dedicated with firearms as a part of different “crimes of violence.” It is the one cost for which Mangione may face the demise penalty, since it isn’t utilized in New York state.
The papers filed early Saturday morning argued that this cost ought to be dismissed as a result of prosecutors have didn’t establish the opposite offenses that might be required to convict him, saying that the alleged different crime — stalking — isn’t against the law of violence.
The assassination and its aftermath have captured the American creativeness, setting off a cascade of resentment and on-line vitriol towards U.S. well being insurers whereas rattling company executives involved about safety.
After the killing, investigators discovered the phrases “delay,” “deny” and “depose,” written in everlasting marker on ammunition on the scene. The phrases mimic a phrase utilized by insurance coverage business critics.
