The 26-year-old faces terror and murder state charges in a New York court, while a federal US prosecution over the fatal shooting proceeds in parallel and might carry the death penalty.
Luigi Mangione, the man accused of fatally shooting the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, is set to be arraigned in a Manhattan court on Monday on murder and terror charges in a state case that will run parallel to his federal prosecution.
Mangione, 26, was formally charged last week by the Manhattan district attorney with multiple counts of murder, including murder as an act of terrorism. His hearing in New York State Supreme Court on Monday will follow an initial appearance in the same court last week on a federal criminal complaint charging Mangione over the shooting.
The federal charges could lead to the death penalty, while the maximum sentence for the state charges is life in prison without parole. Prosecutors have said the two cases will proceed on parallel tracks, with the state charges expected to go to trial first.
US authorities say Mangione gunned down UnitedHealthcare’s CEO Brian Thompson as he was walking to an investor conference in midtown Manhattan on 4 December.
Mangione was arrested in a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania after a five-day manhunt, carrying a gun that matched the one used in the shooting and a fake ID, police said. He also was carrying a notebook expressing hostility toward the health insurance industry and especially wealthy executives, according to federal prosecutors.
At a news conference announcing the state charges last week, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the application of the terrorism law reflected the severity of a “frightening, well-planned, targeted murder that was intended to cause shock and attention and intimidation”.
“In its most basic terms, this was a killing that was intended to evoke terror,” he added. “And we’ve seen that reaction.”
Karen Friedman Agnifilo, an attorney for Mangione, has accused federal and state prosecutors of advancing conflicting legal theories. In federal court last week, she called their approach “very confusing” and “highly unusual”.
