- Luigi Mangione, accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, is seeking to avoid the death penalty by arguing that Attorney General Pamela Bondi’s public comments and political framing of the case have violated his right to a fair trial. His legal team claims Bondi’s statements, which presume Mangione’s guilt and promote a political agenda, have prejudiced the jury pool and corrupted the judicial process.
Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old man accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York last year, is seeking to avoid the death penalty in the state by saying his case has become politicized.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state and federal murder charges after Thompson was gunned down outside a hotel in Manhattan in December. A manhunt for Thompson’s killer ensued after the perpetrator fled the scene on a bike and escaped via Central Park.
An Ivy League graduate and UPenn alumnus, Mangione was arrested in Pennsylvania in connection with the case and was subsequently charged.
Thompson’s murder sparked a widespread conversation about healthcare in America, as well as some ugly reactions. Some people have chosen to support Mangione for his alleged action, believing he was challenging the status quo of corporate America.
Despite Mangione amassing supporters, high-profile individuals also called for the heaviest of sentences for the suspect accused of murdering Thompson, a father of two.
Attorney General Pamela Bondi was one of them, saying on April 1: “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.”
Bondi followed up the statement with a shared post on the U.S. Justice Department’s Instagram page, which read: “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.”
This statement is highly unusual, as it states that Mangione has committed the crime he is on trial for—a direct contraction of his legal right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Moreover, Bondi’s statement presents further legal ramifications for Mangione’s right to a fair trial, protected under the Sixth Amendment.
Chief among the issues is that potential jurors for the trial—tasked with having no prejudice about the defendant before proceedings begin—may be influenced by Bondi’s statement and presume his guilt instead of being convinced by evidence.
Once again, Mangione’s right to an impartial jury is constitutionally protected.
As such, Bondi’s statement—complete with a name drop for President Trump and implied guilt on the part of a suspect who has yet to go before trial—has been blasted by Mangione’s defense team as a “political stunt.”
In a filing on Friday seen by Fortune, Mangione’s team wrote: “The stakes could not be higher. The United States government intends to kill Mr. Mangione as a political stunt … the Attorney General’s actions and public statements in this case have not followed the usual course.
“Because the Attorney General has chosen to proceed in this way, Mr. Mangione’s due process rights have already been violated and the manner in which the government has acted has prejudiced the grand jury pool and has corrupted the grand jury process.”
The White House and the Department of Justice have been approached by Fortune for comment.
Avoiding the death sentence
Mangione’s team is seeking to avoid the death sentence because of Bondi’s actions.
The filing explains: “Because the Attorney General’s direction to the [Southern District of New York] prosecutors—issued publicly, as a press release—to seek a death sentence for Mr. Mangione is political, arbitrary, capricious, a breach of established death penalty protocol and has now indelibly prejudiced this process, the government should be precluded from seeking the death penalty.”
Mangione’s lawyers have also demanded a list of actions be taken to ensure their client’s right to a fair trial, including screening grand jurors for exposure to Bondi’s public statements and “restraining” Bondi from making any further statements.
They also request that Bondi confirm she has read legal materials outlining a suspect’s right to a fair trial.
Moreover, the defense has asked for notes and documents sharing how the Southern District of New York considered a death penalty option, and asked the “government to produce … any emails, records, documents, memoranda and notes of any communication between a government official and anyone advocating for the death sentence.”
On day one of her role as attorney general, Bondi penned a note titled ‘Reviving The Federal Death Penalty And Lifting The Moratorium On Federal Executions.’
Representatives for Mangione’s lawyers told Fortune they had no further comment.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
