NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Tuesday that she has directed prosecutors to seek the death penalty against in the killing of , following through on the to vigorously pursue capital punishment.
It is the first time the Justice Department has sought to bring the death penalty since President Donald Trump returned to office in January with a vow to resume federal executions after they were halted .
鈥淟uigi Mangione鈥檚 murder of Brian Thompson 鈥� an innocent man and father of two young children 鈥� was a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America,鈥� Bondi said in a statement. She described Thompson鈥檚 killing as 鈥渁n act of political violence.鈥�
Mangione, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate from a prominent Maryland real estate family, faces separate federal and state murder charges after authorities say he gunned down Thompson, 50, outside a Manhattan hotel on Dec. 4 as the executive arrived for UnitedHealthcare鈥檚 annual investor conference.
Mangione鈥檚 lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, said Tuesday that in seeking the death penalty 鈥渢he Justice Department has moved from the dysfunctional to the barbaric.鈥�
Mangione 鈥渋s caught in a high-stakes game of tug-of-war between state and federal prosecutors, except the trophy is a young man鈥檚 life,鈥� Friedman Agnifilo said in a statement, vowing to fight all charges against him.
The killing and ensuing five-day manhunt leading to Mangione’s arrest rattled the business community, with some health insurers hastily switching to remote work or online shareholder meetings. It also galvanized health insurance critics 鈥� some of whom have rallied around Mangione for frustrations over coverage denials and hefty medical bills.
Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting Thompson from behind. Police say the words 鈥渄elay,鈥� 鈥渄eny鈥� and 鈥渄epose鈥� were scrawled on the ammunition, to avoid paying claims.
Mangione’s federal charges include murder through use of a firearm, which carries the possibility of the death penalty. The state charges carry a maximum punishment of life in prison. Mangione has pleaded not guilty to a state indictment and has not yet been required to enter a plea on the federal charges.
Prosecutors have said the two cases will , with the state case expected to go to trial first. It wasn’t immediately clear if Bondi’s announcement will change the order.
Mangione was arrested Dec. 9 in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of New York City and whisked to Manhattan by plane and helicopter.
Police said Mangione had that matched the one used in the shooting and other items including a notebook in which they say he expressed hostility toward the health insurance industry and wealthy executives.
Among the entries, prosecutors said, was one from August 2024 that said 鈥渢he target is insurance鈥� because 鈥渋t checks every box鈥� and one from October that describes an intent to 鈥渨ack鈥� an insurance company CEO. UnitedHealthcare, the largest U.S. health insurer, has said Mangione was never a client.
Mangione’s lawyer has said she would seek to suppress some of the evidence.
Former President Joe Biden鈥檚 Justice Department filed the federal case against Mangione but left it to Trump and his administration to decide whether to seek the death penalty. Because the federal case had been taking a backseat to the state case, federal prosecutors have yet to seek a grand jury indictment, which is required for capital cases.
Trump oversaw an unprecedented run of 13 executions at the end of his first term and has been an outspoken proponent of expanding capital punishment. Trump signed an executive order on his first day back in office on Jan. 20 that compels the Justice Department to seek the death penalty in federal cases where applicable.
Bondi鈥檚 order comes weeks after she lifted a on federal executions.
Biden campaigned on a pledge to work toward abolishing federal capital punishment but took no major steps to that end. While Attorney General Merrick Garland halted federal executions in 2021, Biden’s Justice Department at the same time fought vigorously to .
In his final weeks in office, Biden commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal death row, converting their punishments to life in prison.
The three inmates that remain are Dylann Roof, who carried out the in Charleston, South Carolina; 2013 Boston Marathon bomber ; and Robert Bowers, who fatally shot 11 congregants at Pittsburgh鈥檚 , the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S history.
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