NEW YORK – A triptych of felony costs paints a searing, generally disparate portrait of the person accused of ambushing and killing UnitedHealthcare’s CEO Brian Thompson as the manager arrived at a Manhattan lodge for his firm’s annual investor convention.
Filed individually in state courts in New York and Pennsylvania, and a federal court docket in Manhattan, and totaling 20 counts, the costs model Luigi Mangione as each a terrorist and a stalker, accuse him of carrying a ghost gun and a faux ID, and allow prosecutors to hunt life in state jail and the federal loss of life penalty.
On Monday, within the final of three court docket appearances in 5 days, the 26-year-old Ivy League graduate pleaded not responsible in New York state court docket to an indictment charging him with 11 counts in reference to the Dec. 4 killing, together with homicide as against the law of terrorism.
Mangione’s state court docket arraignment adopted back-to-back hearings final Thursday in Pennsylvania, the place he was arrested Dec. 9, and in federal court docket in Manhattan, the place a choose ordered him jailed with out bail on homicide, gun and stalking costs.
Mangione’s lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, has argued that the terrorism allegations within the state case and stalking costs within the federal grievance seem like at odds. Prosecutors are treating him “like a human ping-pong ball and “some kind of spectacle,” she stated in court docket Monday.
Here is a take a look at the circumstances and the costs concerned:
New York: 11 counts together with a terrorism offense
Mangione’s state court docket indictment alleges he killed Thompson to “intimidate or coerce” a bunch of individuals and affect authorities coverage “by intimidation or coercion.”
It contains three counts of homicide, alleging Mangione killed “in furtherance of terrorism,” as an act of terrorism and with intent, and carries a most sentence of life in jail.
Manhattan District Lawyer Alvin Bragg, whose workplace is prosecuting the case, stated final week that the midtown Manhattan ambush “was a killing that was supposed to evoke terror.”
The indictment additionally costs Mangione with seven gun-related counts and one rely associated to a faux New Jersey driver’s license that prosecutors stated he used to verify right into a Manhattan hostel when he arrived within the metropolis 10 days earlier than the killing.
Prosecutors say they anticipate the state case would be the first to go to trial.
After his arraignment Monday, Mangione was returned to a federal jail in Brooklyn whereas state and federal authorities type out the place he’ll be detained whereas the state case performs out.
Federal: 4 counts together with death-penalty eligible cost
A day after Bragg introduced Mangione’s state indictment, federal prosecutors upped the ante with a four-count felony grievance that might carry the death penalty if he is convicted.
The grievance costs two counts of stalking and one rely every of homicide by way of use of a firearm, and a firearms offense. Homicide by way of use of a firearm carries the potential of the loss of life penalty, although prosecutors haven’t stated if they are going to search it.
Mangione made an preliminary look on the costs earlier than a federal Justice of the Peace choose final Thursday however was not required to enter a plea. The U.S. legal professional’s workplace in Manhattan has till mid-January to safe an indictment from a federal grand jury.
In keeping with the federal grievance, Mangione had a spiral pocket book wherein he expressed hostility towards the medical insurance business and rich executives. UnitedHealthcare is the biggest well being insurer within the U.S., although the corporate stated Mangione was by no means a consumer.
Among the many entries, the grievance stated, was one from August that stated “the goal is insurance coverage” as a result of “it checks each field” and one from October that describes an intent to “wack” an insurance coverage firm CEO.
Pennsylvania: 5 counts, together with gun possession and false ID
Mangione was arrested on Dec. 9 in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of New York Metropolis, and initially charged there with possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and offering false identification to police.
Blair County Peter Weeks stated final week that he intends to maintain the case lively and plans to revisit it as soon as Mangione’s homicide costs are adjudicated.
Mangione was arrested whereas consuming breakfast at an Altoona McDonald’s after a buyer noticed that he looked like the person in surveillance images that police have been circulating of Thompson’s killer.
Officers discovered a gun that matched the one used within the taking pictures, a faux ID and writings that expressed hostility towards the medical insurance business, prosecutors stated.
Hours later, the Manhattan DA’s workplace filed paperwork for a warrant for Mangione’s arrest on a homicide cost. Mangione, who was held with out bail in Pennsylvania, headed off a protracted extradition battle by agreeing to be flown to New York final Thursday.
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