As Luigi Mangione entered plea, expert reveals CEO-killer could face ‘18-minute' death
Luigi Mangione, who is accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, pleaded not guilty to federal stalking and murder charges
Luigi Mangione, who is accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, pleaded not guilty to federal stalking and murder charges on Friday. The 26-year-old appeared in Manhattan federal court, wearing prison garb over a thermal white shirt. If convicted, he could be sentenced to death.
Ahead of Mangione's plea, an expert told RadarOnline that the ‘CEO-killer’ isn't looking at a quick death if he is convicted. He could be drugged and put to sleep, and his death could ‘take 18 minutes’.
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“It’s very likely that the drugs cause extreme pain and needless suffering in other words, torturing people to death," the expert told the publication.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has previously said that Brian Thompson's murder was ‘a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America’.
“After careful consideration, I have directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in this case as we carry out President Trump’s agenda to stop violent crime and Make America Safe Again,” she added.
However, Luigi Mangione's attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, countered Bondi's argument by saying that the government ‘must follow statutory and internal procedures’.
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"Mangione seeks Court intervention now not merely because the Government has failed to follow these procedures but because it has abandoned them."
Prosecutors on Thursday filed a notice seeking the death penalty.
“Mangione presents a future danger because he expressed intent to target an entire industry, and rally political and social opposition to that industry, by engaging in an act of lethal violence. And he took steps to evade law enforcement, flee New York City immediately after the murder, and cross state lines while armed with a privately manufactured firearm and silencer,” they said.
The Brian Thompson shooting suspect is also facing state charges in New York and Pennsylvania, including first-degree murder in furtherance of terrorism, two counts of second-degree murder, weapons charges, and a count of using a forged instrument.
