Luigi Mangione, 26, who is accused of murdering Brian Thompson, the chairman of UnitedHealthcare, America's largest insurance company, appeared in federal court in New York on Thursday. The death penalty awaits this man.
Heavy-armed police escorted Magian on a plane to New York immediately after he formally dropped his intention to plead his deportation case from Pennsylvania. He fled Manhattan after Thompson was shot on December 4 and was arrested there.
The 26-year-old New York suspect will face the death penalty in state and federal court. According to the prosecutor's office, the state trial will begin first.
Two trials and the threat of the death penalty
Earlier this week, a jury in New York State Court in Manhattan indicted him on one count of first-degree murder, an act of terrorism and two counts of second-degree murder. He is also accused of falsifying documents.
According to FBI Special Agent in Charge Gary Cobb, a notebook was found in Mangione's possession “containing handwritten statements expressing hostility toward the health insurance industry and particularly wealthy executives.”
Luigi Mangione extradited from Pennsylvania to New York PAP/EPA/OLGA FEDOROVA
As the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York explained, the use of a firearm to commit murder in a federal case is punishable by death or life imprisonment. Stalking (persistent, unwanted, stalking of another person in a manner that causes him to feel threatened, feared, or distressed) and use of a firearm carries a life sentence. The penalty for using a firearm is at least 30 years in prison.
It is not yet clear whether prosecutors will seek the death penalty. This decision, CNN emphasizes, must be approved by the US Attorney General.
Magione's defense attorney, former prosecutor Karen Friedman Agnifilo, called the circumstances of the two trials very unusual. He said that in his 30-year career as a lawyer, this has never happened to him. The attorney asked prosecutors to clarify whether there is a joint investigation by federal and state prosecutors or two separate investigations.
Main photo source: PAP/EPA/OLGA FEDOROVA
