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Luigi Mangione appeared earlier than a New York federal courtroom on Thursday the place he’s charged with murdering UnitedHealthcare chief government Brian Thompson in a case that has gripped international public consideration.
The 26-year-old Ivy League graduate arrived in federal courtroom in decrease Manhattan early within the afternoon, shortly after prosecutors unveiled 4 costs towards him, together with homicide by firearm and stalking.
The federal costs got here along with an indictment obtained by the Manhattan district lawyer in state courtroom earlier this week in reference to the homicide of Thompson, 50, who led the nation’s largest well being insurer.
In a quick, 15-minute listening to, Mangione confirmed he understood the costs towards him, and his legal professionals indicated they might not search bail.
The case has garnered a mix of shock and sympathy as authorities look to piece collectively the explanation for the killing of Thompson at daybreak on a busy avenue in Midtown Manhattan, as he headed to an investor convention.
There was a morbid outpouring of admiration from some quarters for Mangione, whose arrest adopted a five-day manhunt, amongst People aggrieved with the state of the nation’s pricey healthcare system.
Underlining the outsized consideration being given to the case, New York mayor Eric Adams on Thursday joined regulation enforcement officers to escort Mangione after he arrived within the metropolis following his extradition from Pennsylvania, the place he was arrested final week.
“This act of terrorism and the violence that stems from it’s one thing that won’t be tolerated within the metropolis,” stated Adams, a former New York Police Division officer. “We wished to personally be right here to indicate the symbolism of main from the entrance.”
The federal grievance unsealed on Thursday charged Mangione with one depend of homicide via use of a firearm, one depend of possession of a firearm and two counts of stalking. Mangione’s legal professionals didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon the costs.
Edward Kim, the performing US lawyer for the southern district of New York, stated Mangione had allegedly travelled to New York “to stalk and shoot Thompson in broad daylight in entrance of a Manhattan resort, all in a grossly misguided try to broadcast Mangione’s views throughout the nation”.
“However this wasn’t a debate, it was homicide, and Mangione now faces federal costs,” Kim added.
The New York state charges unveiled earlier this week embody first-degree homicide “in furtherance of an act of terrorism”, and two counts of second- diploma homicide. Manhattan state prosecutors have described Thompson’s killing as a “brazen, focused and premeditated” crime and urged the general public to not lionise Mangione.
“There isn’t a heroism in what Mangione did,” New York police commissioner Jessica Tisch stated at a press convention earlier this week.
The federal grievance cites a lot of the identical proof allegedly tying Mangione to the crime that state authorities had beforehand offered. When he was arrested in Pennsylvania, authorities stated they discovered the identical pretend New Jersey ID card utilized by the suspected shooter to test in to a New York hostel forward of the homicide; a gun and silencer in line with the one believed to have been used towards Thompson; and clothes matching the objects worn by the shooter as captured on video.
The federal grievance additionally stated that when Mangione was arrested he was in possession of a pocket book outlining his intention to “wack” the chief government of one of many insurance coverage corporations current at a convention in New York this month.
The pocket book additionally acknowledged that “the goal is insurance coverage” as a result of “it checks each field”, and described the convention as “a real windfall”, in response to the grievance.
New York state has outlawed the loss of life penalty, however it’s nonetheless authorized on the federal degree — and the character of the costs towards Mangione might enable prosecutors to pursue that punishment for Mangione if he’s convicted.
