(NEW YORK) — Hours before Luigi Mangione’s arraignment in federal court, federal prosecutors submitted formal notice that they intend to seek the death penalty if he’s convicted, citing, in part his alleged desire “to provoke broad-based resistance to the victim’s industry” by killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Mangione is expected to plead not guilty when he appears Friday for his arraignment on a four-count indictment that charged him, among other things, with murder through the use of a firearm — a death-eligible offense.
Attorney General Pam Bondi already signaled that President Donald’s Trump administration’s intended to execute Mangione as part of the president’s push to reinstate capital punishment.
The “notice of intent to seek the death penalty” is the government’s formal step to inform the court and lay out the reasons.
Federal prosecutors said Mangione deserves the death penalty because of “the impact of the victim’s death upon his family, friends and co-workers.”
They also said “he expressed intent to target an entire industry and rally political and social opposition to that industry, by engaging in an act of lethal violence.”
Prosecutors stated that Mangione’s choice of site and victim made clear he sought “to amplify an ideological message, maximize the visibility and impact of the victim’s murder, and to provoke broad-based resistance to the victim’s industry.”
Defense attorneys have already called the decision to seek the death penalty “barbaric” and a “political stunt.”
Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
