DOJ wants death penalty for Luigi Mangione if convicted of killing UHC’s Brian Thompson

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday called for the death penalty should Luigi Mangione be convicted of assassinating UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City last year.

“Luigi Mangione’s murder of Brian Thompson — an innocent man and father of two young children — was a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America,“ read a statement Bondi issued late Tuesday morning.

“After careful consideration, I have directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in this case as we carry out President Trump’s agenda to stop violent crime and Make America Safe Again,” the statement continued.

Mangione, 26, faces separate federal and state murder charges stemming from the killing of the 50-year-old Thompson, who directed the Minnetonka-based company until he was shot to death on a Manhattan street on Dec. 4.

The federal charges include a count of murder through use of a firearm, which carries the possibility of the death penalty.

The Star Tribune left messages with Mangione’s attorneys, seeking their response to Bondi’s directive.

The shooting put a spotlight on UnitedHealthcare’s reputation for denying care as one of the bullet casings found at the scene reportedly has the word “deny” written on it. Internet comments heaped criticism on UnitedHealthcare and other insurers in the aftermath of Thompson’s death. At the same time, the killing won Mangione a legion of supporters upset with the American health care industry.

According to prosecutors, Mangione had a spiral notebook in which he expressed hostility toward the health insurance industry and wealthy executives. UnitedHealthcare is the nation’s largest health insurer, though the company said Mangione was never a client.

Among the entries, the complaint said, was one from August 2024 that said “the target is insurance” because “it checks every box” and one from October that describes an intent to “wack” an insurance company CEO.

The maximum punishment on the state charges is life in prison. Mangione has pleaded not guilty to a state indictment and has not entered a plea to the federal charges.

In her statement, Bondi amplified why she has directed Acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky to have Mangione executed upon conviction, with her lead point being that Mangione “stalked and murdered [Thompson] in an act of political violence.”

She also noted that “Mangione’s actions involved substantial planning and premeditation and because the murder took place in public with bystanders nearby, may have posed grave risk of death to additional persons.”

On the morning of Thompson’s death, according to investigators, Mangione appeared on video at 54th Street and 6th Avenue walking back and forth in the area of the Hilton hotel where UnitedHealthcare’s parent company, UnitedHealth Group, was holding its annual investor conference.

A little before 7 a.m., Mangione allegedly shot Thompson as the executive arrived alone, on foot, having walked from a hotel across the street.

On Dec. 9, authorities announced they have detained Mangione, after he was recognized by a McDonald’s employee in Altoona, Pa.

Police said the Ivy League graduate was carrying several fake IDs and a U.S. passport as well as a gun and a firearm suppressor similar to the one used in the shooting. Police also found a three-page handwritten document that detailed the suspect’s motivation in the killing.

One day after the shooting, two homes owned by the Thompson family in Maple Grove were the targets of a bomb threat as part of a “swatting” scheme.

Bondi’s statement Tuesday in the Mangione case follows her directive in February that lifted a Biden administration moratorium on the death penalty in federal cases. Near the end of his first term, President Donald Trump’s administration carried out 13 federal executions, more than any other presidential administration in modern history.

In lifting the moratorium, Bondi emphasized that federal prosecutors “are expected to seek the death penalty in cases involving the murder of a law enforcement officer.”

She noted that this includes the killing of U.S. border agent David Maland, the 44-year-old native of Blue Earth, Minn., who was shot in January during a traffic stop in Vermont near the border with Canada.

Teresa Youngblut, 21, of Seattle, has been charged with assaulting a federal law enforcement officer in connection with Maland’s death. Youngblut has pleaded not guilty and remains in federal custody. A man with Youngblut, Felix Bauckholt, was also killed in the incident.

Maland’s death, according to Associated Press interviews and a review of court records and online postings, appears tied to a group of young, highly intelligent computer scientists who shared anarchist beliefs and became increasingly violent. The group’s online writings span topics from radical veganism and gender identity to artificial intelligence.

This story contains material from the Associated Press.