Federal prosecutors on Thursday filed a formal notice of intent to seek the death penalty for Luigi Mangione in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
This comes one day before Mangione’s arraignment hearing in federal court, which is scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday.
Mangione, 26, is accused of fatally shooting Thompson outside a New York City hotel on Dec. 4, 2024 as Thompson was on his way to an investors conference. He has been indicted on two counts of stalking, a firearms offense and murder through the use of a firearm.
In the filing, prosecutors argue Mangione intentionally killed Thompson outside his hotel “to amplify an ideological message, maximize the visibility and impact of the victim’s murder, and to provoke broad-based resistance to the victim’s industry.”
They go on to say Mangione creates a future danger “because he expressed intent to target an entire industry, and rally political and social opposition to that industry, by engaging in an act of lethal violence.”
“He took steps to evade law enforcement, flee New York City immediately after the murder, and cross state lines while armed with a privately manufactured firearm and silencer,” prosecutors added.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi stated earlier this month that she had directed federal prosecutors to pursue the death penalty in this case, citing “President Trump’s agenda to stop violent crime and Make America Safe Again.”
The president signed an executive order on his first day in office compelling the Department of Justice to seek the death penalty where applicable.
Mangione’s attorneys previously asked a judge to stop prosecutors from seeking the death penalty, saying the U.S. government “intends to kill Mr. Mangione as a political stunt.”
Mr Thompson had been receiving threats relating to medical “coverage”, according to his widow.
Mr Thompson was shot in the back by a masked assailant on 4 December as he was walking into a hotel where the company he led was holding an investors’ meeting.
Five days later, police charged an Ivy League graduate, Luigi Mangione, with murdering Mr Thompson, after detaining him at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania.
The 26-year-old had a handwritten document expressing “ill will” towards corporate America, say investigators.
“There had been some threats,” his wife Paulette Thompson told NBC. “Basically, I don’t know, a lack of [medical] coverage? I don’t know details.
“I just know that he said there were some people that had been threatening him.”
A private funeral for Mr Thompson was held at a Lutheran church near where he had lived in Maple Grove, Minnesota.
A statement issued on behalf of the family last week said: “We are shattered to hear about the senseless killing of our beloved Brian.
“Brian was an incredibly loving, generous, talented man who truly lived life to the fullest and touched so many lives.”
The statement added that he was “an incredibly loving father” to his two sons.
Mr Thompson and his wife, Paulette, had been living separately at the time of his death, the Wall Street Journal reported.
UnitedHealth Group said it was “deeply saddened and shocked” by his death.
“Brian was a highly respected colleague and friend to all who worked with him,” the company said in statement.
Mr Thompson was named chief executive of UnitedHealthcare – the largest private insurer in the US – in April 2021.
He was paid $10.2m (£8m) last year. He started at the company in 2004, before working his way up.
Before joining UnitedHealthcare, Mr Thompson was a manager at accountancy giant PwC for a number of years, according to his LinkedIn account.
He graduated from the University of Iowa in 1997 with a bachelor’s in business administration, it adds.
Mr Thompson had been facing insider trading allegations.
A class-action lawsuit filed in May 2024 alleged that he sold $15m of his UnitedHealth Group shares, knowing that the company was reportedly facing an antitrust investigation by the US Department of Justice.
The City of Hollywood Firefighters’ Pension Fund initiated a complaint against Mr Thompson and other executives, accusing them of failing to tell investors about the investigation before selling more than $117m in company stock.
The lawsuit remains active.
Investigators allege Mr Mangione was motivated to kill Mr Thompson because of anger with US health insurance companies.
His killing ignited a fraught debate about how the US healthcare system operates.
Some Americans, who pay more for healthcare than people in any other country, expressed anger over what they see as unfair treatment by insurance firms.
By Agencies
