 "FILE PHOTO: Luigi Mangione attends an extradition hearing at Blair County Court House in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. Reuters")
Luigi Mangione, the man who killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last year, is being “used as a pawn to further the Trump administration’s political agenda”, his lawyers have claimed as they filed an argument seeking to dismiss his federal indictment.
Mangione’s attorneys submitted a letter in New York federal court on Friday, where they argued that their client’s case is prejudiced owing to social media posts and public comments made by the Department of Justice and White House that have made his trial unfair.
“Mr. Mangione is one young man, alleged to have acted alone, fighting for his life in three separate cases, against the full force and might of the entirety of the United States Government that is actively and persistently using him as a pawn to further its political agenda,” Mangione’s defence lawyers wrote.
What has Trump said about Mangione?
In September, President Donald Trump told Fox News that Mangione “shot someone in the back as clear as you’re looking at me. … He shot him right in the middle of the back — instantly dead. … This is a sickness. This really has to be studied and investigated.”
The attorneys’ letter also highlighted that an X account affiliated with the White House, Rapid Response 47, posted a video of the interview on its handle a day later.
Mangione’s lawyers stated that the video was later reposted by Chad Gilmartin, deputy director of the Justice Department’s public affairs office. In his repost, Gilmartin wrote that Trump “is absolutely right,” according to a screenshot included with the letter.
Lawyers urge to block Mangione’s death penalty
Last month, Mangione’s lawyers urged a federal judge in New York to block prosecutors from seeking the death penalty for their client.
In a court filing, Mangione’s lawyers argued that US Justice Department officials should be precluded from seeking the death penalty because of actions that had violated his due process rights. They said these included “staging a dehumanising, unconstitutional ‘perp walk’ where he was televised, videotaped and photographed clambering out of a helicopter in shackles on his way to his initial appearance.”