Attorneys for high-profile murder defendant Luigi Mangione moved for dismissal of the state charges against him on Thursday, citing violations of Mangione’s constitutional rights.
In the motion to dismiss, attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo claimed the state charges violated Mangione’s rights under the Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the US Constitution. Friedman Agnifilo claimed the “most troubling” reason the court should throw out the state case is the possibility of a violation of the Fifth Amendment’s Double Jeopardy Clause, which protects defendants from being tried twice for the same offense. The clause bars prosecution after an acquittal or conviction and bars multiple punishments for the same offense.
Friedman Agnifilo stated:
This situation is rare in that, unlike the few historical concurrent state and federal death penalty cases in which the state prosecution is always either stayed or dismissed or the federal death penalty case is brought only after the state case is resolved, here Mr. Mangione is being forced to fight two cases simultaneously for the identical act at the same exact time.
She mentioned multiple examples of recent cases where defendants were charged with federal and state offenses but were never required to face a concurrent state prosecution while their federal death penalty sentences were ongoing. She said that one always waited for the other to conclude before proceeding.
This case concerns after the December 4, 2024, killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Mangione is charged with 11 state criminal counts, including murder as an act of terrorism. He was also charged with federal counts, including stalking and murder through the use of a firearm, which carries the possibility of a death penalty sentence. US Attorney General Pamela Bondi announced on April 1 that she was directing prosecutors to seek the death penalty in Mangione’s case, calling the act of killing Thompson “a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.” Mangione has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Mangione is due back in state court on June 26, where Judge Gregory Carro is set to rule on the dismissal request. Mangione is then set to appear in federal court on December 5. No trial date has been set for either case.
