On Monday, Luigi Mangione, the man who is suspected of shooting and killing Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealth Group, on a Manhattan street, entered a not guilty plea to state murder charges that label him a terrorist.
Three murder accusations, including murder as an act of terrorism, are included in the 11-count indictment. He might receive a life sentence without the chance of release if found guilty.
Mangione, 26, made his second court appearance in New York on Monday when he was arraigned at the New York State Criminal Court in Manhattan. He was arrested at a McDonald’s restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, five days after Thompson was killed in a predawn, heinous manner outside a hotel in midtown Manhattan, where his company was hosting an investor conference on December 4.
In addition, Mangione is accused of stalking and killing Thompson in a four-count federal criminal complaint.
His plea to those charges has not yet been requested.
At a presentation on those accusations on December 19, US Magistrate Judge Katharine Parker ordered Mangione to be held.
In the courtroom where Mangione was introduced, about two dozen members of the public were seated in the audience.
In subfreezing weather, a small group of demonstrators had assembled outside the courthouse in lower Manhattan to voice their support for Mangione and their ire at healthcare corporations.
One person was holding a sign that read, “Deny, defend, depose.” According to the police, the phrases were inscribed on shot casings at the scene of the crime.
The statements echo strategies that some claim insurers employ to evade paying claims.
Public leaders have denounced Thompson’s murder, but other Americans have hailed Mangione as a folk hero in protest of the exorbitant prices of healthcare and the ability of insurance companies to refuse to pay for certain medical procedures.
An entry in a notebook
If the US attorney’s office in Manhattan chooses to pursue the death penalty, he would be eligible due to the federal charges.
The state and federal lawsuits will be handled separately and concurrently. According to federal prosecutors, the state case is now anticipated to go to trial first.
Karen Friedman Agnifilo, Mangione’s principal attorney, stated during the federal court hearing that the two sets of charges seemed to be founded on opposing hypotheses.
.Agnifilo urged prosecutors to clarify if both cases will proceed, stating that they appeared to be entirely different.
Federal prosecutor Dominic Gentile stated that those legal considerations should not be addressed during Thursday’s initial appearance.
Mangione was detained after investigators discovered a notebook with multiple handwritten pages that “express hostility towards the health insurance industry and wealthy executives in particular,” according to the federal criminal complaint.
The intention to “wack” the CEO of an insurance business during its investor conference was purportedly detailed in a notebook entry dated October 22.
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