NEW YORK — Luigi Mangione is in a New York courtroom on Monday to face state charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson earlier this month outside a Manhattan hotel.
State prosecutors allege Mangione was found in possession of the murder weaponand surveillance videos show a man matching his description before and after the attackincluding outside the Hilton where Thompson was shot in the back.
Mangione is celebrated in the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center after him appeared in federal court last week.
A key difference between state and federal charges is that the state argues the shooting was an act of terrorism. In addition, the federal charges open the possibility of the death penalty.
Luigi Mangione faces state and federal charges
The 26-year-old was flanked by heavily armed guards like himself extradited from Pennsylvania to New York last Thursday. He later appeared in federal court on charges of stalking and murder.
In a statement, his attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo called the federal charges “highly unusual,” saying they raise “serious constitutional and statutory concerns of double jeopardy.”
The federal complaint has been disclosed Mangione was found with a notebook containing handwritten pages that “express hostility toward the health insurance industry and wealthy executives in particular.”
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg says his office is working with the federal government, and while the cases are happening simultaneously, the trials will have to happen at different times. Acting U.S. Attorney Edward Kim said he expects the state case to proceed first.