Prosecutors are being urged to seek the death penalty for Luigi Mangione, the man accused of fatally shooting the chief executive of a major healthcare company last year.
In February, Mangione pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of murder following the killing of 50-year-old Brian Thompson outside a midtown Manhattan hotel in New York in December.
Mr Thompson was the CEO of UnitedHealthcare.
Now, US attorney general Pam Bondi has issued a statement saying she has “directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in this case”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
2:35 From December: Luigi Mangione pleads not guilty
She added that the murder of Mr Thompson, an “innocent man and father of two young children”, was a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America”.
Ms Bondi said her intervention was part of President Donald Trump’s “agenda to stop violent crime and Make America Safe Again”.
She said that because the shooting happened in a public place with “bystanders nearby”, there could have been a “grave risk of death to additional persons”.
More on Brian Thompson Shooting
The US Department of Justice said Ms Bondi’s actions were in line with her “day one memo as attorney general” entitled “Reviving The Federal Death Penalty And Lifting The Moratorium On Federal Executions”.
Image: Pam Bondi called the shooting a ‘premeditated, cold-blooded assassination’. File pic: AP
Mangione, 26, is accused of ambushing and shooting Mr Thompson as he walked to an investor conference.
He pleaded not guilty to New York state charges of murder and murder as an act of terrorism just before Christmas last year.
The death penalty is not used in New York, meaning Mangione faces life in prison without parole if convicted in those cases.
However, Mangione also faces a parallel indictment from the Manhattan federal court for Mr Thompson’s killing.
He has not been asked to enter a plea in that case but could face the death penalty if convicted.
He also faces charges of forgery, carrying firearms without a licence, and other counts in Pennsylvania, where authorities arrested him at a McDonald’s.
Read more:
Everyone has thoughts on Luigi – and it’s not all negative
Dozens turn out in support of Luigi over killing of healthcare boss
‘Decision to execute is political’
Karen Friedman Agnifilo, Mangione’s lawyer, said the district attorney’s direction to the prosecution means the justice department “has moved from the dysfunctional to the barbaric”.
She added: “Their decision to execute Luigi is political and goes against the recommendation of the local federal prosecutors, the law, and historical precedent.
“While claiming to protect against murder, the federal government moves to commit the pre-meditated, state-sponsored murder of Luigi. By doing this, they are defending the broken, immoral, and murderous healthcare industry that continues to terrorise the American people.”
She said Mangione’s lawyers are prepared to “fight these federal charges, brought by a lawless justice department” alongside the charges in New York State and Pennsylvania – “and anything else they want to pile on Luigi”.
Police said that upon his arrest, Mangione was in possession of a gun, bullets, multiple fake IDs and a handwritten document expressing “ill will” towards corporate America.
The killing prompted some to voice their resentment at US health insurers, with Mangione attracting a cult following.
A poll taken in the wake of the shooting showed most Americans believe health insurance profits and coverage denials were partly to blame for the incident.
