In Brooklyn: Outside Luigi Mangione’s Court Hearing Friday Death Penalty Action Protest
Luigi Mangione Death Penalty Protest Outside Court Hearing Friday
Editor’s note: Luigi Mangione is the accused killer of the CEO of United Healthcare, in apparent retaliation for an injury for which he was himself denied care under his health insurance policy. Someone had written on the bullets “delay, deny, defend,” the title of a book about the policies of insurance companies to deny Healthcare as much and as often as possible, to save money and lower costs. We’ve discussed this same issue as it relates to NYC municipal retirees, as well as to people with autism. We’ve also reported in the past on the percentage of executed prisoners whose innocence was proven afterwards, which demonstrated that adjudication of court cases can be heavily dependent on the financial situation of the accused (and the dedication of the court-appointed attorney’s team) as to whether they are convicted, rather than whether they have committed the crime. There are also issues related to execution methods themselves, particularly legal injection, which cannot ethically be administered by a physician (and so cannot be performed safely such as in cases where things go wrong).
Brooklyn, NY – With the federal prosecution of Luigi Mangione set to continue at the U.S. District Court – Southern District of New York on Friday, January 9, members of Death Penalty Action will be present outside the Courthouse from 10am to noon, ET on Friday morning to draw attention to the politicization of the death penalty in this case.
Death Penalty Action Executive Director Abraham Bonowitz issued the following statement:
“AG Bondi inserted the Administration’s political agenda into this case by calling for the death penalty even before Mr. Mangione was indicted, immediately politicizing the case. We don’t take a position on Luigi’s guilt or innocence, but the federal government’s decision to seek the death penalty from the start, while not pursuing it in others like the El Paso Walmart shooting, raises serious questions about equity that deserve public attention.”
Death Penalty Action is drawing attention to concerning patterns in how the federal government applies the death penalty. The contrast between Luigi’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.
“Those people in Texas were doing nothing other than shopping when they were gunned down by a racially motivated mass shooter who traveled hundreds of miles to ensure he could kill as many Hispanics as possible. This and other disparities exemplify what many see as a troubling pattern where certain lives appear to be valued differently within our justice system,” said Bonowitz. “Additionally, Luigi’s case is in the State of New York, a jurisdiction which has rejected capital punishment. Prosecution of Mr. Mangione while the State pursues its own case is an unnecessary waste of government resources while at the same time inserting the Trump Administration’s authoritarian agenda for purely political purposes.”
Death Penakt
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 is featured at deathpenaltyaction.org
Death Penalty Action
Death Penalty Action (DPA) works to stop executions and abolish the death penalty through advocacy, education, and action.
[…] 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 […]