Prosecutors say Luigi Mangione, accused of killing the CEO of UnitedHealthcare on a Manhattan sidewalk, has impressed others to embrace violence over reasoned debate.
As proof of Mangione’s rising affect, prosecutors cited the final month’s lethal mass capturing on the Nationwide Soccer League headquarters.
The prosecution outlined the risk in a submitting late Wednesday on a procedural matter in federal court docket in Manhattan, the place they plan to attempt to persuade a jury that Mangione deserves loss of life. No federal trial date has been set.
Mangione, who pleaded not responsible to state and federal fees, was arrested 5 days after the Dec. 4 killing of CEO Brian Thompson. He’s being held with out bail in a federal jail in Brooklyn.
U.S. Lawyer Basic Pam Bondi introduced in April that she was directing federal prosecutors to hunt the loss of life penalty for “an act of political violence” and a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.”
Of their submitting Wednesday, prosecutors wrote that Mangione poses a seamless hazard partially as a result of he seeks to affect others.
“Simply put, the defendant hoped to normalize the use of violence to achieve ideological or political objectives,” they mentioned. “Since the murder, certain quarters of the public — who openly identify as acolytes of the defendant — have increasingly begun to view violence as an acceptable, or even necessary, substitute for reasoned political disagreement.”
In a footnote, prosecutors referenced the gunman who went into an workplace constructing not removed from the place Thompson was shot in midtown Manhattan, then killed 4 folks together with an off-duty police officer, a monetary companies agency government and a safety guard, and wounded others, together with an NFL worker.
Mangione is accused of forsaking proof exhibiting disdain for the insurance coverage trade. Equally, the NFL headquarters gunman recognized as Shane Tamura left behind a handwritten observe blaming the league and soccer for inflicting continual traumatic encephalopathy, identified at CTE, prosecutors famous.
Tamura, who took his personal life, accused the league of hiding the risks of mind accidents linked to contact sports activities.
“Almost immediately, members of the public sympathetic to the defendant touted Tamura’s actions as a laudable continuation of the defendant’s philosophy,” prosecutors mentioned.
Prosecutors mentioned Mangione has “openly cultivated supporters” by organising an internet site and immediately addressing them. They mentioned Mangione additionally has catalogued the entire supportive letters he has acquired on his web site.
Michael R. Sisak of the Related Press contributed to this report.
