NEW YORK — The U.S. Attorney General announced on Tuesday her decision to demand the death penalty for Luigi Mangione, who stands accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. This move aligns with the president’s election commitment to restore capital punishment.
The initiation of the death penalty pursuit marks the first instance since President Donald Trump began his current term in January. His administration aims to resume federal executions, a practice halted by the preceding government.
“The murder of Brian Thompson by Luigi Mangione—a family man with two children—was a deliberate and ruthless act of assassination that shook the nation,” said the Attorney General. She characterized this killing as a politically motivated attack.
Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old alumnus of an Ivy League institution from a notable real estate background in Maryland, faces both federal and state charges for the alleged killing of the 50-year-old executive outside a Manhattan hotel on December 4. Thompson was on his way to a critical UnitedHealthcare investor meeting.
Defense attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo criticized the Justice Department’s decision as regressive, claiming the pursuit of the death penalty represents a return to barbarism. She noted that Mangione is caught between state and federal legal challenges, describing this as a precarious situation where his life becomes the contested prize.
The murder and subsequent five-day pursuit before Mangione’s arrest unnerved the business sector. Several health insurers rapidly adapted to remote operations, affected by potential security concerns. Simultaneously, the incident drew attention from critics of the health insurance industry, some rallying around Mangione as a symbol of frustration with policy disputes and healthcare costs.
Footage captured from surveillance cameras depicted a masked individual shooting Thompson from behind. Investigators revealed that words such as “delay,” “deny,” and “depose” were found on the bullets used, seemingly mocking tactics that insurers allegedly use to deny claims.
Federal indictments against Mangione involve charges of murder utilizing a firearm, with potential capital punishment looming. State charges carry the possibility of life imprisonment. As of now, Mangione has declared his innocence regarding state charges, with his federal plea yet to be entered.
The legal process is expected to advance both federally and at the state level concurrently. The state trial is set to commence initially, but the impact of the Attorney General’s announcement on the trial order remains uncertain.
Law enforcement apprehended Mangione on December 9 in Altoona, Pennsylvania. The site is located approximately 230 miles from New York City, and Mangione was transported via air to Manhattan.
Upon arrest, authorities discovered a 9mm handgun linking him to the shooting and a notebook where he allegedly vented grievances towards the health insurance sector and executive figures.
Prosecutors highlighted a specific entry from August 2024, noting insurance as a target, and an October entry revealing plans to “wack” a CEO from this sector. UnitedHealthcare, the largest health insurer nationally, confirmed no previous client relationship with Mangione.
Mangione’s defense intends to challenge certain pieces of evidence.
The prior administration under President Biden filed federal charges against Mangione, allowing Trump’s government the discretion to further pursue the death penalty. With the state case taking precedence, a grand jury indictment for federal capital charges is still pending.
During his first term, Trump executed a historic 13 federal inmates, reinforcing his support for capital punishment. He has renewed this focus with an executive order demanding that the Justice Department pursue the death penalty in relevant cases.
The Attorney General’s directive follows her recent decision to lift a moratorium on federal executions, established during the Biden administration.
Despite campaigning against federal capital punishment, the Biden administration did not successfully abolish it. Attorney General Merrick Garland had halted executions in 2021, yet supported maintaining existing death row sentences. Before departing office, Biden commuted the sentences of 37 inmates from execution to life imprisonment.
The remaining offenders facing federal death sentences include Dylann Roof for the 2015 massacre in Charleston, Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in 2013, and Robert Bowers, who committed a mass shooting in Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in 2018—a notable antisemitic crime in the U.S.