Mangione In 'High-Stakes Game Of Tug Of War' Between Prosecutors

Luigi Mangione is being prosecuted for murder both by the Department of Justice, which answers to President Trump, and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the only prosecutor to convict President Trump. The high-profile case of Mangione, who is charged with killing a health care executive, could set the agencies on a collision course, reports the New York Times. When Mangione was arrested in December, the U.S. Attorney’s office said the state case would happen first. Now, Attorney General Pam Bondi says the Justice Department might move quickly, seeking the death penalty for Mangione. Bondi's announcement was unusual given that Mangione has yet to be indicted in federal court. Her decision “is more political theater than anything else,” said Fordham University law Prof. Cheryl Bader. “This is a way to grab some headlines and to show in a very public way Trump’s commitment to re-establishing the death penalty in federal prosecutions." Mangione is charged with killing chief executive Brian Thompson of UnitedHealthcare outside a hotel on Dec. 4.

Mangione has received an outpouring of public support, with people attending his court hearings, buying clothing featuring his face, and raising more than $830,000 for his defense. The attack prompted many to vent their dislike of the nation’s for-profit health system. Ever since his indictment, Trump has railed against Bragg and promised to take revenge on his adversaries. Death penalties in the federal system are hard to come by, and cases take an extended time. The last federal executions in federal cases from New York City occurred in the 1950s. In federal cases that are eligible for a death sentence, prosecutors typically speak to the defendant’s lawyers before making a recommendation to a panel of Justice Department officials in Washington, D.C. The panel then makes a recommendation to the attorney general. The process can take months. The speed of the announcement in the Mangione case is “a little bit reckless,” said Kathryn Miller of the criminal defense clinic at the Cardozo School of Law in Manhattan. If the Trump administration is committed to seeking death in every eligible case, “they may end up running afoul of the Constitution,” she said. Mangione lawyers, Karen Friedman Agnifilo said federal prosecutors had recommended against seeking the death penalty. She called the Justice Department’s decision to move ahead political. “Luigi is caught in a high-stakes game of tug of war between state and federal prosecutors,” she said.