Luigi Mangione, charged in the December ambush shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, is challenging the most serious charges in his state indictment in New York — first degree murder and murder as a crime of terrorism.
In a 57-page defense filing made public Thursday night, his lawyers argue that there is no evidence showing Mangione intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, as required to prove those top counts.
“Applying New York’s terrorism statute to this case would impermissibly trivialize and redefine the Legislature’s definition of terrorism,” Mangione’s attorneys wrote.
New York state’s terrorism charge
The state’s terrorism charge was designed for crimes against multiple civilians, and was not supported by the grand jury evidence in this case, the attorneys argued.
Grand jurors heard a single witness testify that UnitedHealthcare workers received threats following the December 4 shooting, according to the filing.
And the same witness told grand jurors that some employees became frightened after the company told them “not to publicly wear clothing with the company’s logo,” the filing said.
“This testimony, however, has no relevance on the element of whether Mr. Mangione intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population,” read the filing, signed by lead defense lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo, Marc Agnifilo, and Jacob Kaplan.
The terror charge also relies on “Mr. Mangione’s alleged writings,” but these writings do not broadly reference UHC employees and “make clear that Mr. Mangione was not looking to terrorize any community,” the filing said.
Mangione, for example, noted in his writings “that Ted Kaczynski was a ‘monster’ and ‘terrorist, the worst thing a person can be'” because his mail bombs indiscriminately targeted civilians.
“As such, these writings cannot be the basis to support a finding that he intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; in fact, they support just the opposite,” Magione’s lawyers wrote.
The top state charges carry a potential maximum sentence of life in prison without parole. Mangione is also facing federal murder charges; US Attorney Pam Bondi has said she will seek the death penalty.
Prosecutors in Pennsylvania have told Business Insider that they, too, intend to put Mangione on trial for gun and forgery charges relating to his arrest there; they said their trial would be held after the state and federal trials conclude in Manhattan.
Mangione’s three indictments
The defense filing reprises previous arguments that Mangione’s three indictments represent “unprecedented prosecutorial one-upmanship.”
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“Mr. Mangione now faces three simultaneous prosecutions in three different jurisdictions — one of which is seeking the death penalty, while another is seeking life imprisonment — all for one set of facts,” his lawyers wrote.
The defense filing argues that the state and federal murder prosecutions “violate the double jeopardy clause and Mr. Mangione’s constitutional rights” because his defense in one case could potentially be used against him in the other.
Which murder case would go to trial first — the state case brought by District Attorney Alvin Bragg, or the federal case under the interim US attorney in Manhattan, Jay Clayton — remains a point of dispute.
The filing asks Mangione’s state-level judge, New York Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro, to “appreciate Mr. Mangione’s unprecedented situation and concomitant constitutional concerns and allow the death penalty case to proceed first.”
The filing further asks Carro to exclude broad swaths of evidence from his Pennsylvania arrest — including a ghost gun and what police there called a “manifesto” — should he be tried on state-level murder and terrorism charges.
It asks the judge to suppress any statements Mangione made to Altoona Police Department officers after he was spotted at a McDonald’s after a five-day manhunt.
New images released
The filing includes two previously unpublished still photographs from Altoona police body-worn cameras. The grainy, wide shots show Mangione sitting alone in a corner of the restaurant. One of the stills shows a uniformed officer in what the defense filing called a “strategic position blocking Mr. Mangione’s exit.”
Altoona Police Department
Manhattan prosecutors, led by Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann, have until May 28 to respond to the defense requests.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to all three indictments and is being held without bail pending trial; his next court date is before Carro on June 26.
