Prosecution to seek death penalty for Luigi Mangione

Federal prosecutors reported that they intend to seek the death penalty for Luigi Mangione, the man charged with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last year.

The announcement by the DOJ's Manhattan office comes ahead of Mangione's arraignment, scheduled for Friday.

In early April, Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered the prosecution to seek the death penalty for the subject. Mangione was indicted on federal charges that include murder by use of a firearm, which could make him eligible for the death penalty.

"He intentionally participated in an act, contemplating that the life of a person or persons would be taken, and intending that deadly force would be used in relation to a person other than one of the participants in the crime, and the victim, Brian Thompson, died as a direct result of the act," prosecutors said in the plea.

Thompson's murder

Thompson's murder took place in the evening hours of Dec. 4, 2024, while the CEO was on his way to an investor conference. At that moment, Mangione, who had been following him, shot him several times until ending his life. The subject was arrested five days after the crime at a McDonald's in the city of Altoona, Pa.