BALTIMORE, MD—The U.S. Justice Department will seek the death penalty for Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City last year, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Tuesday. This marks the first time the Justice Department will pursue the death penalty in President Donald Trump’s second term.

Mangione, 26, was federally charged in December with stalking and murdering Thompson after the CEO was fatally shot on the streets of midtown Manhattan. He is also charged with first-degree murder in furtherance of terrorism by state prosecutors. The former Gilman School graduate has pleaded “not guilty” to all charges.

Bondi stated that she was directing prosecutors to seek the death penalty as part of “President Trump’s agenda to stop violent crime and Make America Safe Again.” She described the murder as a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.”

Mangione’s attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, condemned the directive as “barbaric” and “political,” calling it a “corrupt web of government dysfunction and one-upmanship.” She believes Mangione is caught in a high-stakes game between state and federal prosecutors, with his life as the trophy.

While federal prosecutors have indicated a willingness to delay Mangione’s federal indictment until the state’s case concludes, a conviction on state charges could result in a life sentence without parole for Mangione.

The last time federal prosecutors sought the death penalty in New York was for Sayfullo Saipov, who drove a pickup truck into Manhattan’s Hudson River Park in 2017, killing eight people. However, a jury in 2023 failed to reach a unanimous decision on the death penalty, resulting in a life sentence without parole for Saipov.

Thompson’s murder and the subsequent manhunt for the masked gunman garnered significant national attention. The shooting occurred outside the New York Hilton Midtown, where Thompson was staying for his company’s annual investors’ meeting. Police said the gunman fled on a bike into Central Park before disappearing.

Mangione was arrested five days later in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after a McDonald’s worker recognized him from images released by law enforcement. Police allegedly found Mangione with a ghost gun, multiple fake IDs, and a handwritten document that provided insight into his motivation and mindset. Authorities also matched shell casings from the gun found on Mangione to those found at the crime scene.

Mangione is currently being held in a federal jail in Brooklyn.

This article was written with the assistance of AI and reviewed by a human editor.

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