For Accused NYC Killer Of HealthCare CEO, Luigi Mangione Will Not Receive Death Penalty With Guilty Verdict

Editor’s note: Death Penalty Action held a protest outside of Luigi Mangione’s court hearing to protest the possibility of his receiving the death penalty.  His case was also framed as an unequal application of the law, where others who have committed more violent crimes against more individuals in different circumstances (where the victims were not wealthy CEOs) have not been subject to the possibility of the Death Penalty.  We reported last week on a letter sent by Death Penalty Action to several senators and others in politics demanding information on the lawfulness of executions of citizens by armed and masked Immigration Enforcement agents while those citizens were  exercising their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech or the freedom, upheld by the courts, to record video and audio of anyone, including police,  in public where there is no expectation of privacy.  There has reportedly been a memo circulating recently that instructs agents that they no longer need a judicial warrant when forcing entry into and then searching a home or private business for an illegal immigrant.  This order would seem to conflict with the letter and spirit of the Fourth Amendment right to protection against unlawful search and seizure, by both citizens and noncitizens, as the Supreme Court has held.  Since this is such a brand new direction for immigration enforcement, case law on this specific instance is sparse.  You can also see long-time journalist, formerly of CNN, in his chat with Representative from New York Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez about his arrest for covering a protest, here at this link.  

Regarding the Mangione case, Local News Live said: “Garnett dismissed the Trump Administration’s effort to seek the death penalty, rejecting their characterization of the killing as a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination. The judge ruled that the two dismissed counts — a murder charge and a weapons charge — did not meet the legal definition of crimes of violence.”  It should be noted that he still faces murder charges in state court, but these do not carry the Death Penalty, as New York is not a death penalty state since a Court ruled it unconstitutional in 2004, and the last case was changed into a life sentence in 2007.  In addition, there are other charges in the federal case that carry life in prison, including stalking.  

For readers who are confused: Luigi Mangione remains charged in New York State with the crime of Murder in the Second Degree.  This trial is still very much ongoing.  The federal government could only get involved because Mr. Mangione allegedly crossed from Pennsylvania into New York, and was originally from Maryland, making it an interstate crime.  In order to obtain the death penalty, they had to charge him federally with murder also, which had to involve a crime prosecutable at the federal level.  They chose interstate stalking as the crime to charge him with so that the murder charge would stick.  The judge dismissed the murder charge, but the stalking charge itself is still being argued.  

Brooklyn, NY – With charges bringing the possibility of a federal death sentence for Luigi Mangione now disallowed, Death Penalty Action will close down its advocacy in the case.

“This is yet another example of the political bluster and opportunism of the Trump Administration being shut down by rational thinking and the careful consideration of a judge,”said Abraham Bonowitz, Executive Director of Death Penalty Action. “We hope that  removing the possibility of an execution decades from now will allow for a quicker path toward healing for the family and friends of Brian Thompson, the victim in this case.”

Death Penalty Action had expressed concern because Attorney General Pam Bondi had inserted the Trump Administration’s political agenda into this case by calling for the death penalty even before Mr. Mangione was indicted. The organization does not take a position on Mr. Mangione’s guilt or innocence.

The national anti-death penalty organization expressed concerns at patterns in how the federal government applies the death penalty. In particular, the contrast between Mangione’s case and that of the El Paso Walmart shooter—who killed 23 people in a racist attack targeting Hispanics but was not subjected to federal capital punishment—raises important questions about consistency and fairness in the justice system.

“Additionally, Mr. Mangione’s case is in the State of New York, a jurisdiction which has rejected capital punishment,” said Bonowitz. “Seeking the death penalty for Mr. Mangione in a federal case while the State pursues its own case would have been an unnecessary waste of government resources while at the same time attempting to impose the Trump Administration’s authoritarian agenda for purely political purposes.”

About Death Penalty Action

Death Penalty Action works on death penalty issues through advocacy, education, and action. The organization emphasizes the importance of fair trials and consistent application of justice in capital cases. A petition calling for the death penalty to be taken off the table in the Mangione case was featured at deathpenaltyaction.org