New York (AP) – Luigi Mangione pleaded not on Friday to an accusation of federal murder in the murder of Brian Thompson, CEO of Unitedhealthcare. Prosecutors officially declared their intention to request the death penalty, and the judge warned the Ministry of Justice officials to refrain from making public comments that could spoil his right to a fair trial.
Mangione, 26, stood between his lawyers and leaned over a table microphone while he entered the plea before the Federal Court of Manhattan. He replied “yes” when the American district judge Margaret Garnett asked if he understood the indictment which accused him of turning Thompson before a Midtown hotel last December.
When asked how he wanted to plead, Mangione simply said “not guilty” and sat down.
Famous cause for people upset by the health insurance sector, the Federal Mangione accusation attracted dozens of people in court, including former intelligence analyst of the Chelsea Manning army, who has served a prison sentence for stealing classified diplomatic cables.
Some have lined up for hours in front of the courts of the courthouse, trying to hang a seat inside. Others have rallied into the street while a pair of advertising trucks led to playing videos denouncing the health insurance industry and the death penalty.
MangioneA graduate of Ivy League of an eminent real estate family of Maryland, faces separate murders before the Federal and State Court, where he risks a maximum life of life prison.
The prosecutors expected the case of the state first at trial, but the mangione lawyers said on Friday that they wanted the federal affair to be previous because it implied the death penalty. Due to the many legal problems involved in capital affairs, the Federal Mangione case will evolve at a slower rate than the prosecution of penalty not of death.
Mangione must be the most planned before the Federal Court on December 5, a day after the one year anniversary of the death of Thompson. His next appearance in the state affair is set for June 26. No trial date has been set in both cases.
Mangione, detained in a federal prison in Brooklyn since her arrest, came to court in a mustard -colored action on Friday and discussed with one of his lawyers, the lawyer for the death penalty Avi Moskowitz, while they were waiting for the indictment to begin.
Late Thursday evening, federal prosecutors filed an opinion required to ask for the death penalty. This came from weeks after the American prosecutor Pam Bondi announced that she would order federal prosecutors to ask for the death penalty for what she called “an act of political violence” and an “premeditated cold blood assassination that shocked America”.
It was the first time that the Ministry of Justice said that it had been sentenced to capital since President Donald Trump returned to the White House on January 20 with a wish to resume federal executions after their judgment under the previous administration.
Mangione lawyers argue that Bondi’s announcement – which she followed with messages on the Instagram account and a televised appearance – was a “political blow” which violated the protocols of the Ministry of Justice established for a long time, corrupted the process of the Grand Jury and deprived it of its constitutional right to a regular procedure.
After Mangione’s lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo again raised the issue on Friday, Garnett asked federal prosecutors to transmit to Bondi and other leaders of the Ministry of Justice that legal rules prohibit any preliminary advertising which could interfere with the right of a defendant to a fair trial.
Mangione’s federal accusation act includes an accusation of murder thanks to the use of a firearm, which carries the possibility of the death penalty. The accusation act also the burden of harassment and an offense of firearms.
The surveillance video showed a masked shooter shooting Thompson from behind while the executive arrived for the annual investor conference in Unitedhealthcare. Police affirms that the words “delay”, “deny” and “deposit” were scribbled on ammunition, imitating a phrase commonly used to describe How insurers avoid paying complaints.
The five -day murder and research leading to the arrest of Mangione rocked the business community while galvanizing health insurance criticisms that have rallied around Mangione As a replacement For frustrations concerning coverage and high invoices.
Mangione was arrested on December 9 in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (approximately 370 kilometers) west of New York and led to Manhattan by plane and helicopter.
Police said Mangione had A 9 mm handgun This corresponded to that used in the shooting and other articles, including a notebook in which they say that it expressed hostility towards the health insurance industry and the rich executives.
Among the entries, prosecutors said, was one from last August who declared that “the objective is insurance” because “he checks each box” and one of October which describes an intention of “Wack” an insurance CEO. Unitedhealthcare, the largest American health insurer, said Mangione was never a client.
