Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Tuesday that the Justice Department will seek the death penalty for Luigi Mangione, the man accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Midtown Manhattan last December.
Bondi stated that she will direct interim U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky for the Southern District of New York to seek the death penalty if Mangione is convicted on capital murder charges.
Mangione faces both state and federal charges in connection with the killing. While he pleaded not guilty to state charges, he was charged in a federal criminal complaint but has yet to be indicted.
His attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, has previously stated she was in discussions with the Justice Department regarding the case.
This decision is among the Trump administration's first major actions on the federal death penalty. President Donald Trump has made clear his intent for the Justice Department to aggressively pursue capital punishment where applicable. Shortly after taking office in January, Trump issued an executive order instructing the attorney general to "pursue the death penalty for all crimes of a severity demanding its use."
Mangione's federal charges include murder through the use of a firearm, two counts of stalking, and a firearms offense.
In February, he expanded his defense team by adding Avraham Moskowitz, a lawyer with extensive experience in death penalty cases. Court records indicate that Moskowitz has represented over 50 defendants in death penalty-eligible cases in New York.
Currently detained in federal custody in Brooklyn, Mangione will first stand trial in New York state court. A Manhattan grand jury indicted him on 11 charges, including first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder, and additional weapons and forgery offenses. If convicted on the state charges, he faces life imprisonment without parole.
Prosecutors allege that the first-degree murder charge qualifies as an act of terrorism, legally defined as an intent to intimidate or coerce the civilian population or government institutions. One of the second-degree murder counts also classifies the crime as terrorism.
In addition to the New York case, Mangione faces state charges in Pennsylvania, where he was apprehended following a weeklong manhunt. Authorities arrested him at a McDonald's in Pennsylvania, recovering a "ghost gun" and a notebook that allegedly contained writings outlining a premeditated homicide plan and the stalking of his alleged victim.
Despite the severity of the allegations, Mangione has gained notable public support, with backers raising over $700,000 to help cover his legal fees.
During his first term, Trump's administration oversaw the first federal executions in nearly two decades, carrying out 13 executions in the final months of his presidency.
In his 2024 campaign, Trump reaffirmed his commitment to reinstating federal executions.
Upon assuming office in February, Bondi signaled a sharp departure from former president Biden's policies, issuing a memorandum condemning his commutations. She stated they had "severely undermined the rule of law" and "betrayed our sacred duty and broke our promise to achieve justice."
"This shameful era ends today," Bondi declared, announcing the Justice Department's decision to lift the federal execution moratorium imposed under the Biden administration. "Going forward, the Department of Justice will once again act as the law demands—including by seeking death sentences in appropriate cases and swiftly implementing those sentences in accordance with the law."
