Man accused of UnitedHealthcare chief executive’s death to face New York court
23 December 2024, 07:34
He will face multiple counts of murder, including murder as an act of terrorism.
The man accused of fatally shooting the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare is expected to be arraigned in a Manhattan court on murder and terror charges on Monday.
Luigi Mangione, 26, was formally charged last week by the Manhattan district attorney with multiple counts of murder, including murder as an act of terrorism.
He will face two trials for his alleged crimes: a state case and a federal prosecution, which will run parallel.
His initial appearance in the New York State Supreme Court was pre-empted by federal prosecutors bringing their charges over the shooting.
The federal charges could carry the possibility of the death penalty, while the maximum sentence for the state charges is life in prison without parole.
Prosecutors have said the two cases will proceed on parallel tracks, with the state charges expected to go to trial first.
Authorities say Mangione gunned down Brian Thompson as he was walking to an investor conference in midtown Manhattan on the morning of December 4.
Mangione was arrested in a Pennsylvania McDonald’s after a five-day search, carrying a gun that matched the one used in the shooting and a fake ID, police said.
He also was carrying a notebook expressing hostility toward the health insurance industry and especially wealthy executives, according to federal prosecutors.
At a news conference announcing the state charges on Tuesday, Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg said the application of the terrorism law reflected the severity of a “frightening, well-planned, targeted murder that was intended to cause shock and attention and intimidation”.
“In its most basic terms, this was a killing that was intended to evoke terror,” he added.
“And we’ve seen that reaction.”
Mangione’s lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo has accused federal and state prosecutors of advancing conflicting legal theories.
In federal court last week, she called their approach “very confusing” and “highly unusual”.
Mangione is being held in a Brooklyn federal jail alongside several other high-profile defendants, including Sean “Diddy” Combs and Sam Bankman-Fried.
He was extradited from Pennsylvania on Thursday and quickly rushed to New York City, where he was seen wearing an orange jumpsuit as he was led away from a helicopter by heavily armed police officers and New York City mayor Eric Adams.
Mr Adams said he was hoping to send a message to the suspect: “I wanted to look him in the eye and say you carried out this terroristic act in my city — the city that the people of New York love,” the mayor told a local TV station.
“I wanted to be there to show the symbolism of that.”
An Ivy-league graduate from a prominent Maryland family, Mangione appeared to have cut himself off from family and friends in recent months.
He posted frequently in online forums about his struggles with back pain.
He was never a UnitedHealthcare client, according to the insurer.
Mr Thompson, a married father of two high-schoolers, had worked at the giant UnitedHealth Group for 20 years and became chief executive of its insurance arm in 2021.
The killing has prompted some to voice their resentment at US health insurers, with Mangione serving as a stand-in for frustrations over coverage denials and hefty medical bills.
It also has sent shockwaves through the corporate world, rattling executives who say they have received a spike in threats.
