Luigi Mangione's death penalty case shouldn't be tossed, US says

David Voreacos, Patricia Hurtado and Bob Van Voris, Bloomberg News on Nov 22, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

U.S. prosecutors urged a judge to reject a request by Luigi Mangione’s lawyers to dismiss federal death-penalty charges over last year’s fatal shooting of a UnitedHealth Group Inc. executive in New York.

Lawyers for Attorney General Pam Bondi argued Friday that she properly decided to seek the death penalty should Mangione, 27, be convicted of gunning down Brian Thompson outside a midtown Manhattan hotel last December.

Mangione, who was arrested after a five-day national manhunt, has pleaded not guilty. His lawyers claim that Bondi didn’t follow the multi-step deliberative process required to pursue the death penalty known as the Capital Case Protocol, an argument that U.S. lawyers sought to refute in their 121-page filing.

“The government fully complied with the Capital Case Protocol in making its determination to seek the death penalty in this case,” the US lawyers wrote in Manhattan federal court. Prosecutors followed “every safeguard the Capital Case Protocol prescribes.”

Mangione’s lawyer claim that decision is “arbitrary and capricious” because Bondi didn’t properly weigh evidence that might argue against the death sentence. But Justice Department lawyers disagreed.

“The Attorney General’s decision whether to seek the death penalty is a quintessential act of prosecutorial discretion,” they wrote. U.S. lawyers said the decision to seek capital punishment is not subject to review by a judge.

The case has drawn intense national interest and Mangione has been cheered by fans who say he expressed their rage at the health care system, while members of President Donald Trump’s administration have said he should be convicted and have linked him to “left-wing” extremism.

Mangione also asked U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Garnett to throw out evidence from a backpack seized during his arrest at a McDonald’s restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, arguing officers searched his bag without obtaining a warrant. It contained several items that became key pieces of evidence.

Police in Altoona questioned Mangione for more than 20 minutes before reading him his rights and blocked him from leaving the McDonald’s even though they initially told him he wasn’t under arrest, his lawyers said.

But the U.S. argued that officers were justified in searching the backpack to ensure it “did not contain dangerous items before transporting it.” They also said prosecutors only seek to use Mangione’s initial statements in which he falsely identified himself to police by another name, the U.S. wrote.

Separately, Mangione also faces second-degree murder and other charges in New York state court. He has pleaded not guilty in that case.

A state judge in September dismissed first-degree murder charges against Mangione but allowed a lesser murder count to go to trial, ruling that prosecutors failed to show that he committed the crime as an act of terrorism.

State prosecutors have said they intend to go to trial ahead of the federal government, but no date has yet been set.