Luigi Mangione's defense prematurely sought to stop DOJ from seeking death penalty, prosecutors say

Luigi Mangione’s defense lawyers are premature in trying to halt the U.S. Department of Justice from seeking the death penalty in the case against their client for allegedly stalking and killing a health insurance CEO last December, Manhattan federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

"A defendant who wishes to challenge the legal propriety of the death penalty may do so at the appropriate time (after indictment) and in the appropriate forum (before the assigned District Judge who will preside over the case)," Assistant U.S. Attorney Dominic Gentile said in the response brief.

On Friday, defense attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo called Attorney General Pam Bondi’s public announcement that she would seek the death penalty in the case a "political stunt."

She pointed out that prior capital punishment cases go through a monthslong review process with the defense attorneys weighing in at several points in the process to present mitigating arguments.

In this case, Friedman Agnifilo said she had been given limited opportunity under the Biden administration’s Justice Department, but not after Bondi took over.

The defense lawyer also said that making the public announcement before Mangione had been indicted in federal court tainted the jury pool and prejudiced the public against him. She asked the court to bar the government from seeking the death penalty.

Mangione stands accused in three separate jurisdictions — Pennsylvania state court, New York State Supreme Court and Manhattan federal court.

Authorities allege that his discontent with the health insurance industry in the United States led him to plot to kill UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompson on Dec. 4 on a Manhattan sidewalk. Prosecutors say that Mangione, an Ivy League graduate from an affluent Maryland family, had obtained an untraceable ghost gun and staked out the conference Thompson was attending, calculating when to intercept him and gun him down outside the hotel where the event was taking place.

Mangione fled on a Citi Bike and then took a bus to Pennsylvania. After about a weeklong search in which photos of the suspected shooter were posted in the media, an employee in an Altoona McDonald’s recognized him and alerted the authorities.

When police arrested Mangione, they found a gun, ammunition and a "manifesto" notebook with writing expressing anger toward the health care industry.

There was a groundswell of financial and public support for Mangione by a public also upset at the health insurance industry. He has raised nearly $1 million for his legal defense via online crowdfunding websites.

He was extradited to New York City, where federal prosecutors first arraigned him on stalking and murder charges, then the Manhattan district attorney charged him with killing as a terroristic act. The state case is expected to proceed first.

Although he has not been indicted in federal court and a judge has yet to be assigned to the case, Bondi announced on April 1 that the Justice Department would seek the death penalty.

"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," she said in a statement. "After careful consideration, 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."

In their brief opposing the defense attorney, prosecutors said that the case should go through the normal channels, giving Friedman Agnifilo due time to oppose capital punishment.

"The government respectfully requests that the court decline the defendant’s invitation to depart from the ordinary course of permitting the assigned district judge of presiding over pretrial motions, including motions regarding the availability of capital punishment, once the matters to be litigated in those motions are actually ripe for review," Gentile said in his response.

Mangione is due to appear in federal court on Friday.