In a legal battle that has gripped the nation, lawyers for Luigi Mangione, the 27-year-old accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, are mounting an aggressive effort to block federal prosecutors from seeking the death penalty. The case, which has become a lightning rod for debates over justice, political violence, and the U.S. healthcare system, is now at the center of constitutional arguments and public controversy.
On September 20, 2025, Mangione’s legal team filed a sweeping motion in a New York federal court, urging U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett to dismiss the death penalty indictment or, at the very least, prohibit prosecutors from pursuing capital punishment. The motion, spanning more than 100 pages, accuses the U.S. Justice Department and public officials of violating Mangione’s due process rights, citing a series of events they describe as prejudicial and unconstitutional.
At the heart of the defense’s argument is the now-infamous “perp walk” staged shortly after Mangione’s arrest in December 2024. According to Reuters, the lawyers allege that Mangione was “televised, videotaped and photographed clambering out of a helicopter in shackles on his way to his initial appearance.” They argue this spectacle, orchestrated by law enforcement and attended by New York City Mayor Eric Adams, was designed to “dehumanize” Mangione and paint him as a “monster… out of a Marvel movie,” as described in the motion obtained by The Independent. “Potential jurors—grand and petit—were imprinted with a scene out of a Marvel movie, with dozens of agents needed to protect the public from the shackled monster Mangione,” the defense wrote.
But the defense’s complaints don’t end with the perp walk. They contend that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, who announced on April 1, 2025, that the government would seek the death penalty, made “extrajudicial statements” that tainted the proceedings. In a press release and Instagram post, Bondi called Thompson’s killing “a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.” Mangione’s lawyers argue these statements, made outside the courtroom, were “unapologetically political” and “intended to prejudice the rights of Mangione, feeding the false ‘crime wave’ narrative that established and affluent members of society, including CEOs, were under siege from a seething and disgruntled underclass.”
According to Us Weekly, the legal team claims that the grand jury, which indicted Mangione on federal charges of interstate stalking and murder, was not properly screened for exposure to Bondi’s “illegal and prejudicial statements.” They further assert that Mangione was denied a chance to present mitigating information before Bondi’s announcement, a step usually afforded in death penalty cases. The defense also argues that the death penalty is imposed in an “arbitrary and capricious fashion,” and calls capital punishment itself “unconstitutional.”
These arguments come on the heels of a significant development in Mangione’s state case. On September 16, 2025, New York state judge Gregory Carro dismissed the two most serious terrorism-related charges against Mangione, citing insufficient evidence. As reported by Reuters and The Independent, the dropped charges included first-degree murder in furtherance of an act of terrorism and second-degree murder as a crime of terrorism. Despite this victory for the defense, Mangione still faces nine other state-level criminal counts, including second-degree murder and multiple weapons charges. His next hearing in state court is set for December 1, though no trial date has been scheduled.
The federal case, however, looms even larger. Prosecutors with the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office have until October 31 to respond to the defense’s motion and argue for keeping the death penalty on the table. Judge Garnett, who is overseeing the case, has indicated that Mangione’s next federal court appearance will be on December 5, 2025, at which point a trial date for 2026 may be set. If the death penalty is allowed and Mangione is convicted, the same jury would decide whether he should be executed.
The killing of Brian Thompson on December 4, 2024, outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel, sent shockwaves through both the business and political worlds. Thompson, 50, was attending an investment conference when he was gunned down in what Bondi described as an “act of political violence.” The incident sparked widespread condemnation from public officials, but also an outpouring of sympathy for Mangione from some members of the public who expressed frustration with rising healthcare costs and the power of insurance companies to deny claims. As Reuters noted, many Americans voiced their own grievances with the healthcare system in the aftermath of the shooting.
The case has also become entangled with broader concerns about political violence in the United States. In the weeks following Thompson’s death, the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk further heightened anxieties about the country’s political climate. Prosecutors argue that Mangione’s actions, and the public response to them, risk inspiring others to resort to violence instead of debate.
Details of the crime and its aftermath have only added to the drama. According to The Independent, after allegedly shooting Thompson, Mangione fled the scene on a bicycle, made his way through Central Park, took a taxi, and eventually boarded a bus to Pennsylvania. He was arrested nearly five days later, after being recognized in a McDonald’s. Mangione, an Ivy League graduate from Maryland, has pleaded not guilty to all charges and maintains his innocence.
The legal wrangling over the death penalty has exposed deep divisions within the justice system. The defense maintains that the case against Mangione has been irreparably tainted by political grandstanding and media sensationalism, while prosecutors insist that the gravity of the crime justifies the harshest possible punishment. The fact that New York’s death penalty was declared unconstitutional in 2004 complicates matters further; while the ban applies to state cases, federal prosecutors can still pursue capital punishment.
For now, the nation waits. Prosecutors must decide their next move by the end of October, and Mangione’s fate hangs in the balance. As the legal drama unfolds, the case continues to raise uncomfortable questions about justice, fairness, and the power of public opinion in America’s most high-profile trials.
With the next court dates approaching, all eyes remain on Judge Garnett’s courtroom, where the future of both Luigi Mangione and the federal death penalty in this case will soon be decided.
