CEO murder case: Trump admin to seek death penalty for Luigi Mangione

US Attorney General Pam Bondi said that she would instruct interim US attorney for the Southern District of New York to pursue the death penalty if Luigi Mangione is convicted of murder charges

US Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Tuesday (April 1) that the Justice Department will seek the death penalty for Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.  

 

Bondi said that she would instruct interim US attorney for the Southern District of New York, Matthew Podolsky, to pursue the death penalty if Mangione is convicted of murder charges.  

Attorney General Pamela Bondi Directs Prosecutors to Seek Death Penalty for Luigi Mangione  ????: https://t.co/4h453EbjJu pic.twitter.com/EdQQto8ezD

— U.S. Department of Justice (@TheJusticeDept) April 1, 2025

 

Mangione faces both state and federal charges in connection with Thompson’s fatal shooting in Midtown Manhattan last December. While he has pleaded not guilty to the state charges, Mangione has also been charged under a federal criminal complaint, though an indictment on those charges has yet to be issued.  

 

 

Mangione’s attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, has confirmed she had been in discussions with the Justice Department regarding the decision but was unavailable for immediate comment.  

 

Federal death penalty policy under Trump  

 

This development marks one of the first major decisions by the Trump administration concerning the federal death penalty. The US President has consistently expressed his support for capital punishment in applicable cases. Upon assuming office in January, President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing the attorney general to “pursue the death penalty for all crimes of a severity demanding its use.”  

 

Mangione is charged at the federal level with murder using a firearm, two counts of stalking, and a firearms offense.  

 

In preparation for the case, Mangione recently added Avraham Moskowitz — an attorney with extensive experience in death penalty cases — to his legal team. Moskowitz has previously represented over 50 defendants in capital cases in New York, according to court records.  

 

Legal proceedings and charges  

 

Mangione remains in federal custody in Brooklyn, though his state-level case in New York will proceed first. A Manhattan grand jury has indicted him on 11 charges, including first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder, and additional weapons and forgery-related offences. If convicted on state charges, he faces a life sentence without the possibility of parole.  

 

The first-degree murder charge alleges that Mangione committed the crime “in furtherance of an act of terrorism,” defined as an effort to intimidate or coerce the civilian population or a government entity. One of the second-degree murder counts similarly frames the killing as “a crime of terrorism.”  

 

Beyond the New York charges, Mangione also faces legal action in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested after a weeklong manhunt last December.  

 

Mangione's arrest and public reaction  

 

Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania, where law enforcement recovered a so-called “ghost gun” and a notebook containing writings that, according to authorities, indicated a carefully planned crime involving prolonged surveillance of his alleged victim.  

 

Despite the severity of the charges, Mangione has garnered significant public support, with his followers raising more than $700,000 for his legal expenses.  

 

Shift in Federal Execution Policy

 

During his first term, Trump’s administration resumed federal executions after nearly two decades, overseeing 13 executions in the months leading up to his departure from office. During his 2024 campaign, Trump made it clear that he intended to reinstate the practice.  

 

However, former US President Joe Biden placed obstacles in the way of this initiative when he commuted the death sentences of 37 federal death row inmates, leaving only three individuals still eligible for capital punishment — those convicted of high-profile mass killings or acts of terrorism.  

 

Bondi strongly criticised Biden’s actions upon assuming office in February, describing the commutations as a betrayal of justice. In a memorandum, she wrote that the move had “severely undermined the rule of law” and “betrayed our sacred duty and broke our promise to achieve justice”.  

 

“This shameful era ends today,” Bondi declared, confirming that the Justice Department would lift the Biden-era moratorium on federal executions. “Going forward, the Department of Justice will once again act as the law demands — including by seeking death sentences in appropriate cases and swiftly implementing those sentences in accordance with the law.”