By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Luigi Mangione is due to appear on Tuesday in New York state court, where a judge may rule on the 27-year-old’s bid to dismiss one of the two indictments he faces over the December 2024 killing of health insurance executive Brian Thompson.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges of killing Thompson, the former chief executive of UnitedHealth Group’s insurance unit UnitedHealthcare. Thompson was shot and killed on December 4 outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel, where the company was gathering for an investor conference.
Mangione’s 9 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT) appearance before Justice Gregory Carro in Manhattan comes as last week’s killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk has fueled fears of a spike in political violence in the U.S.
Tyler Robinson, the suspect in Kirk’s killing is expected to be formally charged with state crimes in Utah later on Tuesday. Elected officials from both the Republican and Democratic parties have condemned the killing.
While the killing of Thompson was also widely condemned by public officials across the political spectrum, Mangione has become a folk hero to some Americans who decry steep healthcare costs.
In May, Mangione’s defense lawyers asked Carro to dismiss the state case, arguing that facing parallel prosecutions violated his constitutional right against being prosecuted twice for the same conduct.
“Prosecutors are trying to get two bites at the apple to convict Mr. Mangione,” wrote the defense team, led by former Manhattan state prosecutor Karen Friedman Agnifilo.
In state court, Mangione is charged with murder as a crime of terrorism, which carries a potential life sentence. Prosecutors with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office say Mangione was intending to intimidate workers in the health insurance industry and spark a revolution in U.S. health care.
The Justice Department is seeking the death penalty in the federal case, which charges Mangione with stalking Thompson across state lines and killing him.
Mangione’s lawyers have said the two cases are based on conflicting theories. They wrote in their motion that if their client were theoretically to defend himself against the state charges by arguing his conduct was intended to target a single individual, rather than to sow terror, he may end up incriminating himself in the federal case.
In a June response to Mangione’s motion to dismiss, prosecutors with Bragg’s office said there was no basis for Mangione to argue it was unfair that a potential defense in one case could compromise his defense in the other.
“The unpleasant options facing this defendant arise … out of his own depraved actions,” prosecutors wrote.
Trial dates have not yet been set in either the state or federal case.
Mangione has been held in federal custody in Brooklyn since his arrest in December.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
Comments