It is unlikely, but not unlikely, that Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last week, will face federal charges, and it's “fair to be concerned” that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg ” “This issue will be mishandled.” “,” the former prosecutors told Fox News Digital.
Police arrested Mangione in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Monday morning after a five-day manhunt when a McDonald's customer recognized his face from wanted posters.
Mangione on Tuesday refused to waive his right to an extradition hearing in A Pennsylvania CourtHis lawyer said he intends to file a subpoena challenging Mangione's arrest. Bragg and Blair County District Attorney Peter Weeks is working to transfer the 26-year-old Ivy League graduate to New York.
“There is no clear link to Federal murder trial“,” James Trusty, who served as Maryland’s attorney general for 27 years, told Fox News Digital, based on publicly available details of the case.
UNITEDHEALTHCARE CEO, murder suspect, exploded outside a Pennsylvania courthouse
Luigi Mangione, the CEO's murder suspect, screams as officers handcuff him as he arrives for his extradition hearing in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, on December 10, 2024. (David De Delgado for Fox News Digital)
However, Trusty said, evidence of potential federal charges could be found on Mangione's laptop that was seized upon his arrest.
Although federal authorities can bring murder charges, Trusty said “the types of things that can make it federal are if (the murder) is related to organized crime or drug trafficking or a hate crime, which has a narrower definition than just a crime.” killing”. “I hate insurance companies,” Trusty said.
Members of the Altoona Police Department wrote in a criminal complaint obtained by Fox News Digital that they found a “black 3D printed handgun and a black silencer.” Possessing such a “ghost gun” — a home-cooked weapon that is non-serial and therefore untraceable — is a federal crime, former head of the Joint Terrorism Task Force and Port Authority security chief John Ryan told Fox News Digital.
UNITEDHEALTHCARE CEO MURDER LUIGI MANGIONE COMPLAINED ABOUT BACK SURGERY BEFORE THE MURDER
This view shows the SCI Huntingdon State Correctional Facility in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, on December 10, 2024. Luigi Mangione is being held at the detention center. (David De Delgado for Fox News Digital)
But a sentence on such a charge would amount to a much shorter sentence than a state murder charge, likely only one year behind bars, Trusty said.
“If there's something like a ghost gun that becomes a separate, stand-alone federal case, you can do that as a 'safety net' issue to say, 'We're going to get something out of this (trial),” Trusty said.
Fox News contributor Andrew McCarthy wrote on Monday National review article that he had doubts about Bragg prosecuting the Mangione case.
UNITEDHEALTHCARE CEO slaughters suspect Luigi Mangione's first meal behind bars
Luigi Mangione (Obtained by Fox News Digital)
“Can Alvin Bragg—a prototypical progressive prosecutor who seems to look at the streets of New York as if they came out of Howard Zinn’s revisionist American history book—be trusted to prosecute a radical leftist for taking ‘direct action’ against a capitalist oppressor??” McCarthy wrote.
McCarthy, also a former prosecutor, wrote that he “would not surprise (him) if President-elect Donald Trump's nominees for the Justice Department and State Department” take a hard look at the Travel Act, a longstanding alternative in organized crime prosecutions. “To take the issue out of Bragg’s hands.
Conviction on a federal charge also carries the possibility of a death sentence; The death penalty was banned in New York in 2004.
UnitedHealthcare CEO and murder suspect Luigi Mangione is seen at a McDonald's restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on December 9, 2024. (Pennsylvania State Police)
But Trusty said that outcome was “highly unlikely.” Even if Mangione did not act alone, there would have to be some evidence that he was “part of an entity committing crimes” for the travel law to apply.
“Think of the Mafia, MS-13, Tren de Aragua,” Trusty said. “Even someone who assisted him in an active conspiratorial role does not constitute a federal hook.”
Federal authorities could have charged Mangione with murder if Thompson was killed on federal property, but that is not the case, Trusty said.
Trusty said it was “fair” for McCarthy to have doubts about Bragg's possible handling of the Mangione case.
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“I think Bragg has shown a tendency towards politically oriented prosecution decisions,” he said. “Indicting Daniel Penny 11 days after the event was immediately a bad sign that he was listening to political voices and did not conduct a thorough investigation to determine the facts and what a just outcome was.”
“Furthermore, his unprincipled prosecution of President Trump after he and the (State Department withdrew from a case led by Michael Cohen) is another bad sign,” he added. “It is fair to be concerned that he will mishandle this case, perhaps by allowing politics to be injected into the decision-making process rather than being a professional prosecutor.”
