Bondi seeks death penalty for Luigi Mangione
Mangione was charged with fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last year
What happened
Attorney General Pam Bondi said Tuesday she was instructing federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for Luigi Mangione, the man charged with fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last December.
Who said what
Bondi's "widely anticipated" decision is part of her and President Donald Trump's "push to revive the widespread use of capital punishment" after lifting former President Joe Biden's federal moratorium, said The New York Times. First, "federal prosecutors would have to convince a group of jurors to vote unanimously for him to be put to death," a task that "may be difficult." After his arrest, Mangione "became the subject of praise and fascination for some people," especially critics of the health insurance industry, The Washington Post said.
What next?
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to New York State charges that carry a maximum penalty of life in prison. He has not entered a plea in the federal case, since "federal prosecutors have yet to seek a grand jury indictment," The Associated Press said. The cases were expected to "proceed on parallel tracks," with the state charges going to trial first, though it "wasn't immediately clear if Bondi's announcement will change the order."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Moon dust has earthly elements thanks to a magnetic bridgeUnder the radar The substances could help supply a lunar base
-
World’s oldest rock art discovered in IndonesiaUnder the Radar Ancient handprint on Sulawesi cave wall suggests complexity of thought, challenging long-held belief that human intelligence erupted in Europe
-
Claude Code: the viral AI coding app making a splash in techThe Explainer Engineers and noncoders alike are helping the app go viral
-
‘The security implications are harder still to dismiss’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
House approves ACA credits in rebuke to GOP leadersSpeed Read Seventeen GOP lawmakers joined all Democrats in the vote
-
Hegseth moves to demote Sen. Kelly over videospeed read Retired Navy fighter pilot Mark Kelly appeared in a video reminding military service members that they can ‘refuse illegal orders’
-
Trump says US ‘in charge’ of Venezuela after Maduro grabSpeed Read The American president claims the US will ‘run’ Venezuela for an unspecified amount of time, contradicting a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio
-
‘This is a structural weakening of elder protections’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
CBS pulls ‘60 Minutes’ report on Trump deporteesSpeed Read An investigation into the deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s notorious prison was scrapped
-
Trump administration posts sliver of Epstein filesSpeed Read Many of the Justice Department documents were heavily redacted, though new photos of both Donald Trump and Bill Clinton emerged
-
Is Trump deliberately redacting Epstein files to shield himself?Today’s Big Question Removal of image from publicly released documents prompts accusations of political interference by justice department
