NEW YORK (TNND) -- Suspected CEO killer Luigi Mangione is due in court on Tuesday as his defense team pushes to have his state murder charges dropped after UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson was shot to death in New York City last December.
Lawyers are arguing that the New York case and the federal death penalty prosecution amount to double jeopardy. A trial date and whether the state or federal case will go first will also be decided.
"The December 4, 2024, shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has led to a legal tug-of-war between state and federal prosecutors as they fight for who controls the fate of the 26-year-old Luigi Mangione," the court filing read.
If the indictment is not dismissed, lawyers want terrorism charges dismissed and prosecutors barred from using evidence collected during Mangione's arrest at a Pennsylvania McDonald's last December, including a 9 mm handgun, ammunition and a notebook in which authorities say he described his intent to "wack" an insurance executive.
They also want to exclude statements Mangione made to law enforcement because they did not read him his rights.
Additionally, attorneys said evidence seized from his backpack during the arrest should be suppressed because officers conducted a warrantless search after he was already handcuffed and surrounded by police.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty in both cases and is being held in a Brooklyn federal jail.
Federal charges include murder through the use of a firearm, which carries the possibility of the death penalty, firearms offense and two counts of stalking. The state charges, which carry a maximum of life in prison, allege that Mangione wanted to "intimidate or coerce a civilian population," that is, insurance employees and investors.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi directed federal prosecutors in April to seek the death penalty against Mangione, following through on the president's campaign promise to vigorously pursue capital punishment.
"Luigi Mangione's murder of Brian Thompson -- an innocent man and father of two young children -- was a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America," Bondi said in a statement. "After careful consideration, I have directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in this case as we carry out President Trump's agenda to stop violent crime and Make America Safe Again."
Mangione's lawyers argued that the conflicting theories of the state and federal cases -- intending to "intimidate or coerce a civilian population" vs. stalking a single person -- has created a "legal quagmire" that makes it "legally and logistically impossible to defend against them simultaneously."
"This situation is so constitutionally fraught that we are hard pressed to find precedent for such an unprecedented situation," Mangione's lawyers wrote.