Attorney General Pamela Bondi announced Tuesday she is directing federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for Luigi Mangione if he is convicted of the December murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Mangione is accused of gunning down Thompson outside a Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan as the CEO headed to an investors conference on Dec. 4, and was later arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania five days after the murder.

Mangione is facing federal charges for stalking and killing Thompson as well as the use of a silencer in a crime of violence. One of the federal charges against Mangione, murder through use of a firearm, makes him eligible for the death penalty if convicted.

Bondi said in a statement that “Mangione’s murder of Brian Thompson — an innocent man and father of two young children — was a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.  After careful consideration, I have directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in this case as we carry out President [Donald] Trump’s agenda to stop violent crime and Make America Safe Again.”

Bondi called the killing of Thompson “an act of political violence,” and further alleges that “Mangione’s actions involved substantial planning and premeditation and because the murder took place in public with bystanders nearby, may have posed grave risk of death to additional persons.”

Mangione’s attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, called the decision to seek the death penalty “political,” and said it “goes against the recommendation of the local federal prosecutors, the law, and historical precedent. While claiming to protect against murder, the federal government moves to commit the pre-meditated, state-sponsored murder of Luigi. By doing this, they are defending the broken, immoral, and murderous healthcare industry that continues to terrorize the American people.  We are prepared to fight these federal charges, brought by a lawless Justice Department, as well as the New York State charges, and the Pennsylvania charges, and anything else they want to pile on Luigi. This is a corrupt web of government dysfunction and one-upmanship. Luigi is caught in a high-stakes game of tug-of-war between state and federal prosecutors, except the trophy is a young man’s life.”

Mangione has pleaded not guilty to all charges, and his legal team confirmed he consents to a preliminary hearing under the Speedy Trial Act.  He has yet to enter a plea on the federal charges, including murder through the use of a firearm, which would make him eligible for the death penalty if convicted. He is due back in federal court on April 18.

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