Luigi Mangione’s attorneys requested a New York choose to dismiss some prison costs, together with the one rely for which he might face the loss of life penalty, from a federal indictment introduced in opposition to him within the December assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
In papers filed Saturday in Manhattan federal court docket, the attorneys mentioned prosecutors must also be prevented from utilizing at trial his statements to regulation enforcement officers and his backpack, during which 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 Thompson was fatally shot as he arrived at a Manhattan lodge for an investor convention on Dec. 4, 2024.
They added that officers didn’t get hold of a warrant earlier than looking Mangione’s backpack.
Mangione’s attorneys need loss of life penalty off the desk
Mangione, 27, has pleaded not responsible to state and federal costs within the deadly taking pictures.
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 gives service to a number of close by states.
5 days later, a tip from a McDonald’s about 233 miles away in Altoona, Pennsylvania, led police to arrest Mangione. He has been held with out bail since.
In September, attorneys for Mangione requested that his federal costs be dismissed and the loss of life penalty be taken off the desk because of public feedback by U.S. Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi. In April, Bondi directed prosecutors in New York to hunt the loss of life penalty, calling the killing of Thompson a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.”
Luigi Mangione is escorted into Manhattan state court docket in New York, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025.
Seth Wenig / AP
Final month, a Manhattan Legal Court docket choose dismissed Mangione’s state terrorism costs after his attorneys argued the parallel instances amounted to double jeopardy.
Homicide instances are often tried in state courts, however prosecutors have additionally charged Mangione underneath a federal regulation on murders dedicated with firearms as a part of different “crimes of violence.” It’s the one cost for which Mangione might face the loss of life penalty, because it’s not utilized in New York state.
The papers filed early Saturday morning argued that this cost needs to be dismissed as a result of prosecutors have did not establish the opposite offenses that might be required to convict him, saying that the alleged different crime — stalking — will not be against the law of violence.
The assassination and its aftermath has 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 trade critics.
