Wednesday, December 18, 2024 - Luigi Mangione has been charged with mūrder as an act of terrorism for the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Mangione, 26, had already been charged with mūrder for the December
4 slaying, but the indictment could help move along procedural steps toward
extraditing the suspect, Mail Online reports.
Under New York law, such a charge can be brought when an
alleged crime is 'intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population,
influence the policies of a unit of government by intimidation or coercion and
affect the conduct of a unit of government by mūrder, ass@ss!nation or
kidn@pping.'
Thompson, 50, was shot de@d as he walked to a Manhattan hotel where
Minnesota-based UnitedHealthcare - the United States' biggest medical insurer -
was holding an investor conference.
'This was a frightening, well-planned, targeted mūrder that was intended
to cause shock and attention and intimidation,' Manhattan District Attorney
Alvin Bragg said Tuesday.
'It occurred in one of the most bustling parts of our city, threatened
the safety of local residents and tourists alike, commuters and businesspeople
just starting out on their day.'
Mangione has two court hearings scheduled for Thursday,
December 19, in Pennsylvania, including an extradition hearing,
Bragg noted.
Hours after his arrest in Pennsylvania last week, the Manhattan district
attorney´s office filed paperwork charging him with murder and other offenses.
The indictment builds on that paperwork.
Mangione has taken on powerful New York attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo
to represent him as he faces charges over Thompson's death.
Some legal experts have suggested Mangione avoid arguing over his guilt
and focus on getting himself a lesser sentence by claiming extreme
emotional disturbance.
'There is no likely path to him walking out a free man,' said Manhattan
defense lawyer Ronald Kuby told The Wall Street Journal. 'The best he
could hope for is mitigation of the crime and punishment.'
'Usually the defendant’s entire history, their
grievances, their pain, their sufferings, that all comes before the jury.'
Investigators´ working theory is that Mangione, an
Ivy League computer science grad from a prominent Maryland family,
was propelled by anger at the US healthcare system.
A law enforcement bulletin obtained by The Associated Press week said
that when arrested, he was carrying a handwritten letter that called health
insurance companies 'parasitic' and complained about corporate greed.
On Wednesday, New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said
police have matched a gun found on Mangione with the shell casings recovered at
the scene and his fingerprints with a water bottle and energy bar wrapper found
nearby.
Other evidence includes handwritten documents found in his possession casting
his alleged crime as a legitimate response to what he viewed as corporate
greed, some media outlets have reported.
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