Lawyers for Luigi Mangione to fight over death penalty in federal court

By Lauren del Valle, Nicki Brown, CNN Photo: Christian Monterrosa/Pool/Getty Images via CNN Newsource Luigi Mangione is due back in federal court Friday (local time), where his attorneys will continue to fight for the 27-year-old accused killer to avoid the death penalty in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare's top executive in 2024. Mangione allegedly shot Brian Thompson, 50, on a busy Manhattan sidewalk outside a hotel where he was set to attend an annual investors conference 4 December, 2024. His arrest five days later at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, ended a multi-state manhunt. The case generated a national debate over the American health care system that's garnered appalled reactions to Thompson's brutal killing but also vocal support for Mangione as he's become a figure for larger frustrations with the industry. Donations to his legal fund surpassed $1.4 million (NZ$2.5m). On Friday (local time), a federal judge is expected to hear arguments over a defence motion to dismiss two charges from the indictment against Mangione, including a murder charge that carries the death penalty. Mangione's defense team says the judge should toss one count of murder through the use of a firearm and a firearms charge over a technical legal interpretation of statutes. The murder charge that carries the death penalty is predicated on being carried out through a violent crime that must also be charged in the indictment. The defence, however, says the two stalking charges that round out Mangione's indictment are not violent crimes. Prosecutors allege Mangione stalked Thompson online and in person to carry out the killing. Mangione's lawyers - Karen Friedman Agnifilo and her husband Marc Agnifilo - have already found success capitalising on legal nuances for Mangione. In his state case last fall, the judge dismissed two terror-related murder charges against him - the top two charges in that indictment. The state judge found that, "There was no evidence presented of a desire to terrorise the public, inspire widespread fear, engage in a broader campaign of violence, or to conspire with organised terrorist groups," which was required by the statutes governing those charges. Mangione still faces second-degree murder and eight other counts in that state case and other charges in Pennsylvania related to his arrest. He's pleaded not guilty to all charges. It's unclear if federal District Judge Margaret Garnett will rule on any of the outstanding defence motions at Friday's hearing. Photo: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters via CNN Newsource Defence says AG's conflict of interest should spare Mangione the death penalty At a minimum, the federal judge should take the death penalty off the table over a conflict of interest with US Attorney General Pam Bondi, who announced the Justice Department would seek the death penalty last April, another defence motion says. The motion argues Bondi should recuse herself from any decision making related to Mangione over a conflict of interest with Ballard Partners, the lobbying firm where she worked before joining the Trump administration last year. The parent company of UnitedHealthcare is a Ballard client. The Justice Department has pushed back on the defence suggestion that Bondi continues to profit from Ballard's ongoing representation of UnitedHealth Group and accused Mangione's lawyers of creating such a misimpression by cherry-picking language from her public financial disclosure report. "She disclosed that Ballard would make no further contributions to her plan upon her confirmation by the Senate and after she left that firm," a government letter filed Wednesday says. Bondi committed not to participate for one year after her resignation from Ballard Partners in matters involving Ballard and its clients as a party, so the criminal case against Mangione should be fair game for the DOJ head, the letter also said. Mangione's arrest could be dissected in another hearing to keep out key evidence Photo: Supreme Court of the State of New York via CNN Newsource Mangione's defence also wants key evidence tossed from his federal case, arguing items were illegally seized from his backpack during his arrest. His lawyers have asked the judge to hold an evidentiary hearing that could unfold like the dayslong hearing held last month in Mangione's state case, where prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney's Office laid out details of how Mangione's arrest unfolded. The state court judge is expected to rule on the evidentiary issues in May. Police did an initial search of the backpack at the McDonald's and then later brought it to the police station, where they found a ghost gun and other items, according to testimony during the state suppression hearing. Those law enforcement searches were illegal, according to Mangione's attorneys, and the backpack's contents should be inadmissible because search warrants obtained later that night were improperly based on...

Lawyers for Luigi Mangione to fight over death penalty in federal court

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