Cnn
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The Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Tuesday that the Ministry of Justice would ask for the death penalty for the CEO accused Killer Luigi Mangione.
Bondi said that she will direct the American acting prosecutor of the South District South New York, Matthew Podolsky, to ask for the death penalty in the case if Mangione is convicted of a murder of capital.
Mangione faces state and federal charges for allegedly shot the CEO of Unitedhealthcare, Brian Thompson, in Midtown Manhattan, in December. He pleaded not guilty to state accusations. Mangione was charged in a federal criminal complaint but has not yet been charged with these accusations.
Mangione lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo said she was in discussion with the Ministry of Justice for the decision. She could not be reached immediately to comment.
A spokesperson for the American lawyer’s office refused to comment.
The news is among the first major announcements of the Trump administration linked to the Federal death penalty – that the president clearly indicated that he wanted to see by his Ministry of Justice if necessary. After taking office in January, President Donald Trump published a executive decree Ordering the Attorney General to “continue the death penalty for all crimes of a severity requiring its use”.
The federal criminal complaint accuses Mangione with murder thanks to the use of a firearm, two hunting charges and an offense on firearms.
In February, Mangione added an experienced lawyer in cases of death to his legal team.
Avraham Moskowitz represented more than 50 accused charged in cases eligible for the death penalty in New York, according to legal files and mangione lawyers.
Mangione is held in federal custody in Brooklyn, New York, although officials said that his case before the New York State Tribunal would be forward first.
He was charged by a great Manhattan jury in 11 counts, including a first degree murder leader and two second -degree murder leaders, as well as other weapons and counterfeiting. He risks a prison sentence without possibility of parole if it was found guilty of state accusations.
The accusation of the first degree alleged murder that he killed the executive “in the pursuit of an act of terrorism”, which is legally defined as an intention of intimidating or forcing the civilian population or a government unit. One of the second degree charges also alleys that Mangione committed a murder “as a crime of terrorism”.
The 26 -year -old also faces state charges in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested after a week -long man hunt in December.
When arrested after being spotted in a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania, the police recovered a “ghost pistolAnd a notebook full of writings which, according to them, revealed a well -planned homicide involving the hunt for his alleged victim.
Mangione has received a large support from a growing fans base, raising more than $ 700,000 for its legal invoices.
During his first mandate, Trump’s administration carried out the first federal executions in almost two decades, putting 13 detainees to death in the months preceding his departure. And throughout the 2024 campaign, Trump pointed out a desire to resume the federal executions once again.
President Joe Biden, however, has set an obstacle to the goal of his successor when he commissioned death sentences Out of 37 prisoners of federal death in life prison, leaving only three who were found guilty of high -level mass fire or acts of terrorism.
Bondi echoes Trump’s decree when she took office in early February, memorandum denouncing the switches of Biden. They had written, “seriously undermined the rule of law” and “betrayed our sacred duty and broke our promise to achieve justice”.
“This shameful era ends today,” said Bondi, announcing that the Ministry of Justice would raise a moratorium on the federal executions put in place during the Biden administration. “In the future, the Ministry of Justice will act again as the law requests it – including by asking for death penalties in appropriate cases and quickly implementing these sentences in accordance with the law.”
This story has been updated with an additional context and developments.