Lawyers for Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December, have filed a motion to dismiss the New York state murder charges against him, arguing that the case and federal charges against him mean he faces double jeopardy.
Mangione, 26, pleaded not guilty last week to federal stalking and murder charges. He could face the death penalty if convicted.
In a 57-page filing in New York’s Supreme Court, attorney Karen Agnifilo argues that Mangione should not face the state charges against him, which include first-degree murder in furtherance of terrorism. He also faces charges in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested five days after the Dec. 4 shooting outside a midtown Manhattan hotel.
“As a result of unprecedented prosecutorial one-upmanship, Mr. Mangione now faces three simultaneous prosecutions in three different jurisdictions — one of which is seeking the death penalty, while another is seeking life imprisonment — all for one set of facts,” Agnifilo wrote in the Thursday filing.
The filing also moves to suppress Mangione’s statements to law enforcement officers during his arrest in Pennsylvania because, according to Agnifilio, officers failed to read him his Miranda rights.
In the filing, Agnifilio argued the evidence seized at the time of his arrest should be suppressed because law enforcement conducted a warrantless search of Mangione’s backpack after he was handcuffed and “surrounded by ten police officers” in violation of his Fourth Amendment rights.
Finally, Agnifilo moved to dismiss the state indictment’s terrorism-related counts, arguing that “the grand jury evidence failed to establish the required element that Mr. Mangione intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, influence the policies of a unit of government by intimidation or coercion or affect the conduct of a unit of government by murder, assassination, or kidnapping.”
The various cases linked to Thompson’s killing have “led to a legal tug-of-war between state and federal prosecutors as they fight for who controls the fate of 26-year-old Luigi Mangione,” the filing said
In Pennsylvania, Mangione is accused of gun possession and forgery. His lawyers accuse New York prosecutors of “trying to get two bites at the apple to convict Mr. Mangione” and say that police have “methodically and purposefully trampled his constitutional rights.”
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office told The Associated Press it would respond to Agnifilo’s arguments in a court filing.
Mangione is due back in court on June 26 for a hearing in the state case against him, while the federal case is set to be tried on Dec.5, a full year after Thompson’s killing.
This week, New York federal prosecutors submitted a letter responding to a defense attorney’s claim that they had “eavesdropped” on a jailhouse phone conversation between Mangione and a lawyer.
“To be sure, no one at DANY (New York County District Attorney’s Office) or the Government ‘eavesdropped’ on the defendant on a live basis,” the letter said, adding that New York prosecutors instead heard a recorded version of the call, which is standard practice.
