Luigi Mangion's lawyers urged the judge on Thursday to abandon the state's murder charges in the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, arguing that federal death penalty charges alongside the New York case would be twice as dangerous.
If that doesn't happen, they dismissed using evidence collected during Mangion's arrest last December, including banning prosecutors, 9mm handguns, ammunition and notes that the authorities explained his intention to “wack” the insurance company.
Mangion's lawyers also want to rule out a statement made after a five-day search to the police officer who took him into custody at a McDonald's restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, 230 miles west of New York City.
Among other things, prosecutors say the Ivy League alumni apologise to officers “for the inconveniences of the day,” warning McDonald's employees about his whereabouts and express concern to McDonald's employees who said “it would upset many people that were arrested.”
Thompson's December 4th murder outside a Manhattan hotel “has brought a legal tug of war between state and federal prosecutors. They fight to see who controls the fate of 26-year-old Luigi Mangione,” his lawyers, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, Marc Agnifilo and Jacob Kaplan wrote in a 57-page court filing.
They called a third of Pennsylvania, including dual state and federal cases and gun possession and other charges, “one unprecedented attitude of prosecutors.”
They said the prosecutors “have been “incarcerated and about to bite Mangion twice for murder.”
“However, despite the most serious consequences for Mangion, law enforcement has systematically and intentionally trampled on his constitutional rights,” his lawyer wrote.
They alleged that officers questioned him saying he had the right to remain silent and searched his property without a warrant.
The Manhattan District Attorney's Office said it would respond in court documents.
Defence demands to end or limit Mangion's state case could preview his legal strategy for his federal murder case, where prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty.
The state charges ow the biggest life punishment in prison.
Mangion, who turned 27 on Tuesday, pleaded not guilty in both cases.
He has been detained at Brooklyn Federal Prison as authorities foamed him into New York on planes and helicopters after his arrest.
Mangion is due to return to court in state cases on June 26, when Judge Gregory Caro is expected to govern the dismissal request.
His next federal court date is December 5th, the day after Thompson's death.
In either case, no trial date is set.
Prosecutors said they hope that the state case will go to trial first, but Friedman Agnifilo said last week that she would prefer to prioritize federal lawsuits as she will be subject to the death penalty.
In addition to trying to dismiss the state case, Mangion's lawyers asked Karo to abandon the charges that allegedly “promoting terrorism” and murdered as a terrorist act.
They argue that “there is absolutely no fact to support this theory,” and that they accused him of the post-9/11 terrorist law.
Surveillance video showed the masked gunman who shot Thompson from behind when the executive arrived for United Healthcare's annual Investors Conference.
Police say “delay,” “deny,” and “retirement” were scribbled with ammunition, mimicking commonly used phrases to explain how insurance companies avoid paying claims.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the ambush was “a murder intended to evoke fear.”
Mangion's federal accusations include murder by using a firearm. This includes the possibility of death penalty and two stalkers and firearm crimes.
Last month, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondy announced that he had directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for the murder, calling it a “act of political violence” and a “deliberate, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.”
The murder that led to Mangion's arrest and subsequent search rattles the business community while energizing health insurance critics over Mangione as a substitute for coverage refusal and frustration over the hefty bill.
In filing Thursday, Mangion's lawyers argued that the conflicting theory of state and federal cases is intended to “intimidate or enforce a civilian” versus stalking a single person — “producing “legally and logistically impossible” to simultaneously defend what is legally and logistically impossible.”
“This situation is so constitutional difficult that we struggle to find precedents for such an unprecedented situation,” wrote Mangion's lawyer.
