US Attorney General Calls for Death Penalty for Luigi Mangione

BarcelonaU.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi has ordered prosecutors to seek the death penalty for Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing Brian Thompson, the CEO of the largest health insurer in the United States, UnitedHealthcare. Police believe Mangione, 26, is the masked man who pulled out a silenced pistol on a Manhattan street last December and murdered the executive. The murder highlighted the collective frustration with health insurance companies in the United States. On social media, some people even applauded the alleged perpetrator.

Mangione was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, a week later when a McDonald's worker recognized him and called the police. Officers reported finding a fake ID, a gun similar to the one seen in the video of the murder, and a manifesto denouncing the healthcare industry.

In a statement, Bondi said Mangione "premeditatedly and in cold blood" murdered Brian Thomson, "an innocent man and father of two young children." "After careful consideration, I have directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in this case while we carry out President Trump's agenda to stop violent crime and make America safe again," he added.

Bondi asserts that the murder was "an act of political violence" because it required "substantial planning and premeditation" and because it occurred "in a public place with people nearby," which "could have posed a serious risk of death to others."

Mangione has been charged with first-degree murder, along with forgery and illegal weapons possession, to which he has pleaded not guilty. He has two open cases, one at the state level in New York and another federal case. New York state does not recognize the death penalty, but he could be sentenced if convicted in the second case.

The government's goal: to strengthen the death penalty

In Tuesday's statement, the Justice Department said the request for the death penalty for Mangione is in line with Bondi's first-day memorandum as attorney general, titled "Bringing Back the Federal Death Penalty and Lifting the Moratorium on Federal Executions."

During the presidential campaign, Trump made clear his intention to expand the death penalty. During his first term, he restarted federal executions after a nearly 20-year hiatus. But in 2021, Joe Biden ordered a moratorium on executions and asked federal prosecutors not to seek the death penalty.