Mangione's Lawyers Renew Bid to Dismiss New York Murder Case
Lawyers for Luigi Mangione filed new paperwork on Friday, again asking a New York court to dismiss the state case against him. The case concerns the killing of UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompson. The filing follows Mangione's federal guilty plea.
Thompson died outside a Manhattan hotel on 4 December 2024. His death set off a wide search for the killer. It also brought a wave of anger at the for-profit US healthcare industry.
The plea and the first dismissal request
Mangione pleaded guilty to federal charges on 14 August. The plea came less than a month before his state murder and weapons trial, which had been set for 8 September.
He admitted two federal stalking charges. About an hour later, his lawyers filed paperwork to dismiss the state case. They argued that New York's double-jeopardy laws bar the Manhattan district attorney from prosecuting him.
What the new filing says
In the latest filing, the defence repeated its argument. "The core misconduct of the federal and state prosecutions is the same: the intent to kill and the killing of Brian Thompson," the lawyers wrote.
They accepted that stalking can also apply to conduct less extreme than intending to kill someone. But they said that has "nothing to do with whether it also applies to intentional killing". In their words, the federal stalking statute is "intended to keep people safe from being murdered — the oldest crime there is".
Manhattan prosecutors oppose the push. In paperwork filed on 9 October, they said the state proceedings can go ahead "under an exception" in the state's double-jeopardy provisions. They argue that federal stalking crimes and state murder offences do not overlap in a way that would bring those protections into play. Statutory double jeopardy applies only when a defendant has been "separately prosecuted" for the same misconduct, they said, and "dismissed federal charges do not constitute a separate prosecution".
Judge Gregory Carro, who presides over the state case, pushed the proceedings back after the unexpected plea. The next court date is 10 December.
Source: The Guardian