How Luigi Mangione’s notebook helped the case and what’s next before he goes to trial

How Luigi Mangione’s notebook helped the case and what’s next before he goes to trial



CNN

According to authorities, these were uncovered writings in a notebook that was in Luigi Mangione’s possession and were intended to help investigators build the federal case against him – a well-planned murder in which the movements of his alleged victim, the UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was prosecuted.

An entry dated Aug. 15 said: “The details are finally coming together,” according to a federal complaint unsealed Thursday. “In a way, I’m glad I hesitated,” Mangione allegedly wrote, saying it gave him time to learn more about the company he was targeting and whose name was redacted by prosecutors.

“‘The target is insurance’ because ‘it checks every box,'” the complaint states in the notebook.

The high-profile case took an unusual turn when new federal charges were filed against the 26-year-old Mangione on Thursday, in addition to the state charges he already faces in the Dec. 4 killing of the manager in Manhattan, among other things for first-degree murder as an act of terrorism. The move appeared to surprise his lawyers.

Now the state and federal cases will “run in parallel,” according to the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

But Mangione’s defense attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, said the new charges – which include murder by firearm, two counts of stalking and a firearm offense – “raise serious constitutional and statutory double jeopardy concerns.”

Although it is unusual for federal prosecutors to take on a case like Mangione’s, a double jeopardy claim — a doctrine that prohibits someone from being prosecuted twice for the same crime — is unlikely, legal experts say.

Mangione, now being held in federal custody, is expected to face state trial before his federal trial, prosecutors said. But with federal charges now in play, it’s unclear when Mangione will appear in state court. Next, federal prosecutors are expected to file an indictment before a grand jury.

The federal charge carries the possibility of Mangione being sentenced to death if he is found guilty of the federal murder charge, while the state charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Prosecutors have not indicated whether they will seek the death penalty, and the decision would ultimately have to be approved by the U.S. attorney general.

According to the federal complaint, the notebook Mangione owned contained “several handwritten pages that expressed hostility toward the health insurance industry and, in particular, wealthy executives.”

“The details from the notebook helped FBI agents build their case because they demonstrate interstate stalking and intentional ambush,” said David Shapiro, a lecturer at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “It’s all there and part of a months-long project plan to cross state borders.”

In an Oct. 22 entry, the author said, “This investor conference is a real godsend… and most importantly, the message is evident.” The entry also described an intention to “bash” an insurance company’s CEO at the conference. .

It’s unusual for federal prosecutors to take on a case like Mangione’s, Shapiro says, because murder has historically been prosecuted primarily by the states because it was a crime committed in a particular jurisdiction.

The federal complaint added four new federal charges against Mangione, who was already indicted on 11 counts in New York this week. The indictment includes two counts of second-degree murder, one of which alleges he committed murder “as a crime of terrorism.”

Luigi Mangione is escorted from the Blair County Court House in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, following an extradition hearing on Tuesday, December 10.

But bringing both state and federal charges is not unprecedented.

The push to file a federal charge came from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, multiple law enforcement sources told CNN. Because the FBI was already involved in the investigation and assisting the NYPD with tips from outside the city, FBI agents were asked to write the federal complaint based on evidence provided by NYPD investigators working on the state charges and the police in Pennsylvania that arrested Mangione.

Federal prosecutors say they have jurisdiction over the case because Mangione “engaged in interstate commerce” – he took a bus from Atlanta to New York before the murder – as well as used “interstate facilities” by allegedly using a cell phone and the used internet. to “plan and carry out the pursuit, shooting and killing” of Thompson in broad daylight on a Manhattan sidewalk.

When Mangione appeared in a New York court for the first time on Thursday, Agnifilo asked prosecutors to clarify whether there was a joint investigation by federal and state prosecutors or two separate investigations.

Mangione’s defense team appears poised to argue that the concurrent charges could violate his rights as a defendant, several legal experts told CNN.

“The federal government’s reported decision to pursue an already inflated first-degree murder and state terrorism case is highly unusual and raises serious constitutional and statutory double jeopardy concerns,” Agnifilo said. “We stand ready to fight these allegations in any court in which they are made.”

Agnifilo’s request to prosecutors on Thursday was about “creating smoke and doubt,” Shapiro said.

Mangione’s lawyer could file a motion for double jeopardy, but he is unlikely to succeed, according to Shapiro and Elie Honig, a senior legal analyst at CNN and a former federal and state prosecutor. The Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that state and federal authorities can bring charges against a person for the same conduct because they operate as separate entities.

“It does not violate the principles of double jeopardy for the same person to be charged separately by the government and the state,” Honig told CNN. “The reason for this is that these are separate government agencies and in this case the nature of the charge is technically different.”

According to Shapiro, it is unlikely that a trial-level judge would “take the risk of deciding that this is double jeopardy and rejecting it,” Shapiro said, because “the societal risk is huge.”

Karen Friedman Agnifilo, attorney for Luigi Mangione, appears in U.S. District Court in New York on Thursday, December 19th.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the state case against Mangione will continue “in parallel” to the federal case.

According to Shapiro, however, “parallel” suggests “two independent tracks, so to speak, one on top of the other.” Instead, he says, the two federal and state investigators are actually “crossing tracks, like threads in yarn. They work together.”

Federal prosecutors requested Mangione’s detention and his lawyers told the court they would not seek bail at this time but reserved the right to do so later. Mangione is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, the only federal prison in New York City.

The biggest problem with Mangione’s prosecution is jury nullification because, according to Shapiro, “you’re going to have a jury pool that’s going to be somewhat familiar with the case.”

The killing of Thompson, a husband and father of two, exposed many Americans’ anger toward the health care industry, and Mangione received widespread support on social media after his arrest. Since his killing, officers have witnessed a “shocking and appalling celebration of cold-blooded murder,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

Luigi Mangione sits between his defense attorneys Karen Friedman Agnifilo and her husband Marc Agnifilo during his hearing in federal court in New York on Thursday, December 19.

Jurors can choose to overturn the law and return an acquittal based on their personal beliefs, Shapiro said, even if they believe the evidence presented in court proves guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

“A jury nullification is the secret hope and dream of every defense attorney who has no case,” Shapiro said. “As a defense attorney, you cannot argue for an annulment. But a juror can decide for themselves to overturn the law, ignore the evidence and say they won’t convict for their own reasons.”

The issue in both the federal and state cases against Mangione, according to Shapiro, is that prosecutors are unlikely to want to try the case because it would give Mangione “a soapbox to air his views.”

“I think they want Mangione to plead, which is why they are giving him the death penalty,” he said.

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