Luigi Mangione tests UnitedHealth CEO

Lawyers for Luigi Mangione asked a federal judge in New York on Saturday to drop some criminal charges, including the only count for which he faces the death penalty, from a federal indictment against him in the December killing from UnitedHealth general manager.

In papers filed in Manhattan federal court, the lawyers said prosecutors should also be barred from using at trial his statements to law enforcement officers and his backpack where a gun and ammunition were found.

They said Mangione was not read his rights before being questioned by law enforcement, who arrested him after Brian Thompson was fatally shot as he arrived at a Manhattan hotel for an investors conference.

They said officers did not obtain a warrant before searching Mangione’s backpack.

Mangione, 27, has pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges in the Dec. 4 fatal shooting of Brian Thompson as he arrived at a Manhattan hotel for his company’s annual investor conference.

The killing sparked a multistate search after the suspected shooter walked away from the scene and rode his bicycle to Central Park, before taking a taxi to a bus depot that serves several neighboring states.

Five days later, a tip from a McDonald’s about 230 miles away in Altoona, Pennsylvania, led police to arrest Mangione. He has been held without bail ever since.

Last month, Mangione’s lawyers requested that the federal charges be dropped and the death penalty withdrawn following public comments from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. In April, Bondi ordered New York prosecutors to seek the death penalty, calling Thompson’s killing a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.”

Murder cases are typically tried in state courts, but prosecutors also charged Mangione under a federal law for gun killings committed in connection with other “crimes of violence.” This is the only charge for which Mangione could face the death penalty, since it is not used in New York state.

Documents filed early Saturday morning argue that charge should be dropped because prosecutors failed to identify other offenses that would be necessary to convict him, saying the other alleged crime — stalking — is not a crime of violence.

The assassination and its aftermath captured the American imagination, sparking a cascade of online resentment and vitriol toward U.S. health insurers while rattling business executives concerned about security.

After the murder, investigators found the words “delay,” “deny,” and “drop” written in permanent marker on ammunition at the scene. The words mimic a phrase used by critics of the insurance industry.