Luigi Mangione, the man accused of fatally shooting the CEO of UnitedHealthcare pleaded not guilty on Monday to state murder and terror charges while his attorney complained that statements coming from New York’s mayor would make it hard to receive a fair trial. Mangione, 26, was shackled and seated in a Manhattan court when he leaned over to a microphone to enter his plea. The Manhattan district attorney charged him with multiple counts of murder, including murder as an act of terrorism, in a state case that will run parallel to his federal prosecution, the Associated Press reports. His initial appearance in New York’s state trial court was preempted by federal prosecutors bringing their own charges that could carry the possibility of 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. A Mangione attorneys told a judge that government officials, including New York Mayor Eric Adams, have turned Mangione into a political pawn, robbing him of his rights as a defendant and tainting the jury pool. “I am very concerned about my client’s right to a fair trial,” said Karen Friedman Agnifilo. Ater Mangione was flown to a Manhattan heliport last week and slowly escorted up a pier after being extradited from Pennsylvania, Adams said, “I wanted to look him in the eye and say you carried out this terroristic act in my city — the city that the people of New York love." Friedman Agnifilo has accused federal and state prosecutors of advancing conflicting legal theories, calling their approach confusing. “He is being treated like a human pingpong ball between warring jurisdictions here,” she said Monday. State Judge Gregory Carro responded that he has little control over what happens outside the courtroom, but said he can guarantee that Mangione will receive a fair trial. Authorities say Mangione gunned down Brian Thompson as he was walking to an investor conference in midtown Manhattan on the morning of Dec 4.
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