Federal Charges Unlikely for Suspect in UnitedHealthcare CEO's Shooting Death
It’s unlikely, but not impossible, that Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last week, will face federal charges. Former prosecutors told Fox News Digital that it’s "fair to be concerned" about Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg potentially "mishandling this case."
Mangione, 26, was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Monday morning after a five-day manhunt, following a tip from a McDonald's patron who recognized his face from wanted posters.
On Tuesday, Mangione declined to waive his right to an extradition hearing in a Pennsylvania court, and his attorney announced plans to file a writ of habeas corpus to challenge his arrest. Both Bragg and Blair County District Attorney Peter Weeks are working to bring the Ivy League graduate back to New York.
"There’s no clear basis for a federal murder prosecution," James Trusty, a former Maryland prosecutor with 27 years of experience, told Fox News Digital, citing the publicly available details of the case.
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However, Trusty noted that evidence for potential federal charges could be found on Mangione’s laptop, which was seized during his arrest.
While federal authorities do have the power to issue murder charges, Trusty explained that the circumstances would need to involve factors like organized crime, drug trafficking, or a hate crime—though, as he pointed out, "hate crimes have a more specific definition than just ‘I hate insurance companies.’"
According to a criminal complaint obtained by Fox News Digital, members of the Altoona Police Department discovered a "black 3D-printed pistol and a black silencer" during their investigation. Possessing such a "ghost gun"—a homemade weapon that is unserialized and untraceable—is a federal offense, former Joint Terrorism Task Force head and Port Authority Chief Security Officer John Ryan told Fox News Digital.
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However, Trusty noted that a conviction on such a charge would result in a significantly shorter sentence compared to a state-level murder charge, likely amounting to only about a year in prison.
"If something like a ghost gun comes into play, it could become a separate federal case," Trusty explained. "That could serve as a 'safety net' to ensure we get something out of this prosecution."
In a National Review article on Monday, Fox News contributor Andrew McCarthy expressed concerns about Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg handling Mangione's case.
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"Can Alvin Bragg—the poster child of progressive prosecutors, who seems to view the streets of New York through the lens of Howard Zinn's revisionist American history—be trusted to prosecute a radical leftist for carrying out a ‘direct action’ against a capitalist oppressor?" McCarthy wrote.
McCarthy, a former prosecutor himself, also suggested that it would "not surprise [him] if President-elect Donald Trump's Justice Department nominees and the State Department 'take a hard look' at the Travel Act, a longstanding tool in organized crime prosecutions," in an effort to remove the case from Bragg’s jurisdiction.
A conviction on federal charges could also carry the possibility of the death penalty, although capital punishment has been outlawed in New York since 2004.
However, Trusty deemed this outcome "highly unlikely." He explained that even if Mangione didn't act alone, there would need to be evidence showing he was "part of an entity that commits crimes" for the Travel Act to come into play.
"Think the Mafia, MS-13, Tren de Aragua," Trusty explained. "Even if someone played an active conspiratorial role in helping him, it still wouldn't create a federal case."
Trusty also noted that Mangione could have faced federal murder charges if Thompson had been killed on federal property, but since that wasn’t the case, such charges are unlikely.
Trusty added that it is "fair" for McCarthy to have concerns about Bragg's handling of Mangione's case.
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