Luigi Mangione's lawyers file motion to dismiss death penalty

Lawyers for Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last year, filed a 114-page motion Friday night arguing federal prosecutors should be precluded from treating this as a death penalty case and that the indictment against him should be dismissed.

Earlier this week, a New York state judge dismissed state terrorism charges against Mangione, but kept the second-degree murder charges. The 27-year-old also still faces federal charges and other state charges in Pennsylvania, all of which he has pleaded not guilty to.

On Dec. 4, a masked gunman shot and killed Thompson, 50, on the streets of midtown Manhattan, hours before he was set to speak at UnitedHealth Group’s investor conference. Mangione, 27, was arrested after a dayslong manhunt and charged with a slew of federal and state charges in connection with the killing.

In April, Attorney General Pam Bondi directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty.

'Purely political'

In the lengthy document filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Friday, Mangione's lawyers argue that the decision to seek the death penalty was "purely political."

"Because of the issues concerning United Health Care, the larger issues surrounding health coverage, the publicity created by the NYPD leaks, the unconstitutional perp walk, the repeated press conferences of the New York City Mayor and Police Commissioner, the Mangione case had overwhelming international recognition," the lawyers said in the document.

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"As a result, the Mangione case presented an opportunity for the new Administration to demonstrate its loathing of the prior administration, and to publicly advance its new and aggressive death penalty agenda through one of the most watched criminal cases in decades," the document states.

The filing breaks down six ways Mangione's lawyers believe his constitutional rights were violated by Bondi, federal and state law enforcement and NYC Mayor Eric Adams, thus "fatally" prejudicing the death penalty case.

'Comic book villain' perp walks

In the filing, the lawyers accuse Bondi and other officials of making "extrajudicial statements" about the case during TV appearances and on social media, and staging the in-famous "perp walk," "befitting a captured cartel chief or comic book villain" that featured Adams and heavily armed law enforcement, violating Mangione's Fifth and Eighth Amendment rights.

Adams also spoke at a press conference after the "perp walk," where he said "that this act of terrorism and the violence that stems from it are something that will not be tolerated in the city."

"As with every press conference concerning Mr. Mangione, there was no mention of his presumption of innocence or his right to due process," the lawyers said in the filing.

The offices of Adams and Bondi did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The attorneys also claim that the government "allowed the grand jury to be prejudiced" by not screening jurors for exposure to Bondi's comments, and refused their request to mitigate information before making a decision on whether to pursue capital prosecution, according to the document.

Death penalty 'arbitrarily imposed,' defense says

The death penalty, Mangione's lawyers said, is being "arbitrarily imposed in violation" of the Fifth and Eighth Amendments, and the federal Death Penalty Act "lacks constitutional procedures approved by Congress."

The lawyers also said that the government's decision to return a death-eligible indictment against Mangione "through unconstitutional and prejudicial conduct" violates his right to due process, the document states.

In the filing, the lawyers accounted for Mangione's character, saying that he excelled in school and sports, adding that those who know him describe him as "kind, intelligent, a leader, and someone who thinks of others before himself," and that his "beautiful, promising life has been derailed."

This is not the first time Mangione's lawyers have filed a motion to block the death penalty. In April they did the same, calling the directive to seek the penalty against their client "a political stunt." While New York Judge Gregory Carro dismissed state terrorism charges against Mangione this week, he ruled that prosecutors presented “legally sufficient evidence of all other counts, including Murder in the Second Degree.”

Mangione is charged with four federal counts in connection with Thompson's killing, and he is also charged on New York state counts that include second degree murder.

Federal prosecutors have until Oct. 31 to respond to the filing. Mangione is scheduled to return to court in the federal case Dec. 5, days after the start of pretrial hearings in his state case. No trial date has been set for either case.