Lawyers for Luigi Mangione continued their push Friday for a state court to dismiss his murder and weapons cases, saying his guilty plea two months ago to federal stalking charges barred a separate trial.
Mangione pleaded guilty in August in Manhattan federal court to the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. The guilty plea sets off a protracted battle over the future of separate state court prosecutions for second-degree murder and weapons possession.
The state trial, originally scheduled to begin on September 18, was postponed indefinitely so that the court could hear the question of whether double jeopardy applied. A decision on the dismissal motion is expected on December 10.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office insists the state case can proceed legally because its charges are significantly different from those in the federal court case, which focuses on stalking and crossing state lines and cyberstalking through the use of interstate facilities, each resulting in death. Prosecutors argued the state indictment was a classic murder case, which is generally not defined in federal statutes.
Mangione’s team countered Friday that the charges in both cases were essentially the same. They told New York Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carlo that the federal crime to which Mangione pleaded guilty — interstate stalking resulting in death — involved overlapping legal elements.
Mangione’s attorneys, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, Marc Agnifilo and Jacob Kaplan, argued in a letter to the court that “a federal grand jury indicted Mangione for possessing the same firearm at the same time and location.” “There is no other gun now or in the past.”
Mangione is due back in federal court on Dec. 18 and faces a possible life sentence. If the state case proceeds, he faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison.
Legal experts told NBC News that state prosecutors must overcome New York’s double jeopardy law, which requires a clear “evil” between two cases for state matters to proceed. Mangione’s attorney said the injuries involved in the state and federal cases are the same.
“There is no basis for finding such a difference, let alone one that is large enough to accommodate a narrow statutory exception,” they wrote in their recent filing.
Earlier this month, Bragg’s office pointed to the double jeopardy exception, which could provide Caro with a path forward if he finds unique “elements” in the state’s case.
Chief Prosecutor Joel Seidman argued in a filing that early proceedings in the federal lawsuit showed significant differences in state charges. U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett ruled that stalking cannot be considered an act of violence under the law, a ruling that led to the dismissal of two counts that would have made Mangione eligible for the death penalty. Before Garnett’s ruling, the Justice Department had announced its intention to seek the death penalty.
Mangione admitted that early on Dec. 4, 2024, he used a 3D-printed gun to shoot Thompson outside the Hilton City Center hotel as Thompson walked from a nearby hotel to the company’s investor meeting.
A gunman ambushed Thompson, a Minnesota father of two, and fired several shots before escaping, sparking an interstate manhunt. He was arrested five days later in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after a customer recognized his photo at a McDonald’s from a photo circulated by the New York Police Department.
The Ivy League-educated Maryland native from a prominent family said in federal court that he was motivated by personal dissatisfaction with the health insurance industry. Investigators said he was never a UnitedHealthcare policyholder.
His attorneys argue that the notoriety of the case has led to over-prosecution, with state and federal officials seeking credibility by filing separate cases over the same incident.
Luigi Mangione will not face the death penalty after a judge dismissed two federal charges in the 2024 shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.