Luigi Mangione’s lawyers seek dismissal of state charges, citing double jeopardy law | Brian Thompson shot

Lawyers for Luigi Mangione filed papers Friday once again seeking dismissal of his state case in the murder of UnitedHealthcare Executive Brian Thompson following his guilty plea at the federal level.

Mangione pleaded guilty on August 14 to federal charges related to Thompson’s grisly death outside a Manhattan hotel on December 4, 2024. The shocking plea came less than a month before his trial on murder and weapons charges, scheduled for September 8.

Thompson’s death sparked a massive search for his killer. The incident simultaneously sparked a wave of anger against America’s for-profit healthcare industry, which has long been criticized for putting its bottom line ahead of patients, to the detriment of patients.

About an hour after Mangione admitted to two federal stalking charges, his lawyers filed papers to dismiss his case. They argued that New York State’s double jeopardy laws barred him from being prosecuted by the Manhattan District Attorney.

The double jeopardy protection provided by the U.S. Constitution does not prevent state prosecutions for the same crimes as a federal case, and vice versa. However, New York State law provides that “a person may not be prosecuted twice for the same offense” and “a person may not be prosecuted separately for two offenses based on the same criminal act or transaction.”

In their new filing, Mangione’s lawyers reiterated their double jeopardy arguments.

“The fundamental fault of the federal and state prosecutions is the same: the intent to kill and the murder of Brian Thompson. Yes, harassment can also, in certain circumstances, apply to different, less extreme behavior than the intent to kill someone. But that has nothing to do with the fact that it also applies to intentional killing,” they wrote.

“One of the harms clearly addressed by the broad federal stalking law is stalking with the intent to kill and resulting in the murder of the person stalked,” they also said. “This is a law that, like a state murder law, is intended to protect people from murder – the oldest crime there is. The fact that the stalking statute also criminalizes stalking that does not result in death does not change this analysis.”

Manhattan prosecutors oppose Mangione’s request for dismissal. In papers filed Oct. 9, they insisted that his state proceedings could proceed “under an exception” to that state’s double jeopardy provisions.

They argued that federal stalking offenses and state murder offenses do not overlap in such a way that state double jeopardy protections would come into play.

“Legal double jeopardy only applies when a defendant has been ‘separately prosecuted’ for the same wrongful conduct, and dismissed federal charges do not constitute a separate prosecution,” they said.

The judge presiding over Mangione’s trial, Gregory Carro, postponed the proceedings after an unexpected plea. Carro set the next court date for December 10.