Defense: Mangione death penalty charge should be dismissed

Oct. 11 (UPI) — Defense attorneys for Luigi Mangione, the alleged killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, say their client’s rights were violated during his arrest and that some federal charges against him should be dismissed.

Mangione’s lawyers on Saturday morning filed a motion arguing that some evidence against their client cannot be used in court because police failed to obtain a search warrant before examining his belongings.

In his federal case, Mangione faces several charges, including for stalking, a firearms offense and one count of murder using a firearm — the latter of which is the only one carrying the death penalty.

“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,” his attorneys wrote in the filing.

Mangione, 26, was indicted by a federal grand jury in April on two counts of stalking, one count of murder with a firearm and an additional firearms count for allegedly using a silencer in the shooting death of Thompson last December.

In addition to the federal charges, Mangione has been charged with murder and terrorism in New York State for allegedly shooting Thompson on a New York City sidewalk as he was on his way to shareholder’s meeting.

In September, a judge dismissed two of the 11 charges Mangione faces in New York, including one for first-degree murder in the furtherance of an act of terrorism, which Judge Gregory Carro said there was insufficient evidence to support.

The New York charges followed separate state charges in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested after the shooting, on charges of forgery, possession of an instrument of a crime and giving a false ID to a police officer.

He has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.

Mangione’s attorneys have argued that various federal charges, most notably the murder charge, should be dismissed because he faces double jeopardy.

In mid-September, his attorneys also sought to have the federal murder charge dismissed because Attorney General Pam Bondi had come out publicly seeking the death penalty in the case “based on politics, not merit,” for with the Department of Justice was reprimanded.

In the newly-filed court documents, Mangione’s attorneys also argue that, based on police body-camera footage, their client was not read his Miranda rights when he was questioned and arrested — and his backpack was searched without a warrant.

“Altoona law enforcement failed to follow fundamental Fourth Amendment case law (and basic police procedure) by failing to obtain a search warrant before searching through Mr. Mangione’s backpack and the closed containers within the backpack,” the attorneys wrote.