Could Luigi Mangione face the death penalty?

NEW YORK – The New York trial will soon start for the man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare’s CEO last December. 

Luigi Mangione is charged with the murder of 50-year-old Brian Thompson.

Mangione is facing both state and federal charges, but will go to court on the state charges first. 

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The attack happened on a Manhattan street on December 4 outside a New York City hotel as Thompson walked to UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor meeting.

Brian Thompson was the CEO of UnitedHealthcare’s insurance arm

The killing sparked widespread discussions about corporate greed, unfairness in the medical insurance industry and even inspired folk-hero sentiment towards his killer.

Is Luigi Mangione eligible for the death penalty?

What we know:

New York doesn’t have the death penalty, so Mangione will not be eligible for that sentencing under his state charges, if convicted. However, he could be eligible at the federal level. 

The federal complaint charges Mangione with two counts of stalking and one count each of murder through use of a firearm and a firearms offense. 

Murder by firearm carries the possibility of the death penalty.

RELATED: Luigi Mangione faces federal charge that is eligible for death penalty

According to the federal complaint, Mangione also had a spiral notebook that included several handwritten pages expressing hostility toward the health insurance industry and wealthy executives. UnitedHealthcare is the largest health insurer in the U.S., though the insurer said Mangione was never a client.

What we don’t know:

 Federal prosecutors have not said if they will pursue the death penalty.

Who gets to decide if Mangione gets the death penalty?

Dig deeper:

According to the U.S. Justice Department, a federal jury can recommend the death penalty if “the defendant had the requisite culpability with respect to the victim’s death.”

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The jury must also vote unanimously “that the aggravating factor or factors it has found sufficiently outweigh any mitigating factors to justify a capital sentence.”

If a federal jury recommends the death penalty, the court is required to impose the sentence. However, if the jury does not unanimously vote for the death penalty, the defendant is given a lesser sentence.  

Mangione’s charges at the state level in New York, Pennsylvania 

At the state level, Mangione is charged with 11 counts, including a terrorism offense.

His state court indictment alleges he killed Thompson to “intimidate or coerce” a group of people and influence government policy “by intimidation or coercion.”

It includes three counts of murder, alleging Mangione killed “in furtherance of terrorism,” as an act of terrorism and with intent, and carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

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The indictment also charges Mangione with seven gun-related counts and one count related to a fake New Jersey driver’s license that prosecutors said he used to check into a Manhattan hostel when he arrived in the city 10 days before the killing.

Mangione was arrested on Dec. 9 in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles west of New York City, and initially charged there with possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and providing false identification to police.

Blair County Peter Weeks said last week that he intends to keep the case active and plans to revisit it once Mangione’s murder charges are adjudicated.

Who is Luigi Mangione?

Dig deeper:

Mangione was apparently living a charmed life: the grandson of a wealthy real estate developer, valedictorian of his elite Baltimore prep school and with degrees from one of the nation’s top private universities.

He more recently worked at the car-buying website TrueCar, but has not worked there since 2023, the head of the Santa Monica, California-based company confirmed to the AP.

From January to June 2022, Mangione lived at Surfbreak, a “co-living” space at the edge of touristy Waikiki in Honolulu.

At Surfbreak, Martin learned Mangione had severe back pain from childhood that interfered with many aspects of his life, including surfing. Mangione likely was motivated by his anger at what he called “parasitic” health insurance companies and a disdain for corporate greed, according to a law enforcement bulletin obtained by AP.

Who was Brian Thompson?

Dig deeper:

Thompson, who grew up on a farm in Iowa, was trained as an accountant. A married father of two high-schoolers, he had worked at UnitedHealth Group for 20 years and became CEO of its insurance arm in 2021.

How was Mangione caught?

The backstory:

Mangione was arrested a few days after the attack while eating breakfast at an Altoona McDonald’s after a customer noticed that he looked like the person in surveillance photos that police were circulating of Thompson’s killer.

Officers found a gun that matched the one used in the shooting, a fake ID and writings that expressed hostility toward the health insurance industry, prosecutors said.