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- Luigi Mangione’s defense lawyers have challenged his federal murder case in a new legal filing.
- They are seeking to dismiss some of the criminal charges brought against the 27-year-old.
- Mangione is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024.
Lawyers for Luigi Mangione are seeking to dismiss some of the criminal charges brought against him in a federal indictment following the December 2024 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, including the only count eligible for the death penalty.
In documents filed at a Manhattan federal court on Saturday, defense attorneys for Mangione sought to dismiss a count of murder through the use of a firearm.
“Count Three―the only death eligible count in the indictment―and Count Four must be dismissed for failure to state an offense because the stalking crimes charged in Counts One and Two are not ‘crimes of violence,’ as would be required to convict Mr. Mangione on Counts Three and Four,” Mangione’s lawyers said in the filing.
They added that prosecutors should also be prevented from using as evidence Mangione’s statements to law enforcement at the McDonald’s where he was arrested and his backpack, saying officers did not read Mangione his rights before questioning him and did not obtain a warrant before searching his bag.
Mangione’s attorneys have previously argued that he should not face the death penalty for Thompson’s killing and have asked US District Judge Margaret Garnett to bar the government from seeking the death penalty.
The judge has yet to make a decision on the death penalty front.
Even if the death penalty withstands all of the defense’s challenges, legal experts have told Business Insider that the likelihood of Mangione being sentenced to death is slim.
Last month, Mangione scored a legal victory in his state murder case when a judge dismissed the two top terrorism charges against him. New York Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro ruled that the charges were legally insufficient.
Mangione faces three prosecutions in Thompson’s December 2024 shooting death in Midtown Manhattan, and has pleaded not guilty in each.
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