From the HERE City National Desk
NEW YORK, N.Y. — Attorneys for Luigi Mangione argued in a court filing Friday that New York law should stop the state from trying him for murder, because he has already pleaded guilty in federal court to the same killing.
The filing is a reply to Manhattan prosecutors and was due Oct. 30 under the schedule set by Justice Gregory Carro. It backs the defense request to throw out the second-degree murder count, listed as Count 3, along with seven firearms counts. One leftover count over a fake ID card is left out of the request.
Mangione admitted on Aug. 14 to two federal stalking crimes, one interstate and one carried out online, each charged as causing a death, according to federal prosecutors. The charges grew out of the shooting of UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel on Dec. 4, 2024. His defense team asked to end the state case about an hour after that plea.
The U.S. Constitution generally lets state and federal governments each prosecute the same conduct. New York goes further. A state statute, section 40.20 of its criminal procedure code, blocks a second, separate case over offenses built on one act or transaction, though it lists exceptions.
The defense argues the heart of both cases is identical: the intent to kill Thompson and his death. The lawyers concede stalking laws can reach conduct far short of murder but say that does not matter when, as here, the stalking ended in a deliberate killing.
Manhattan prosecutors answered in an Oct. 9 filing that the case fits an exception to the state rule. Prosecutors say the federal stalking crimes and the state murder charge have different elements and target different harms, and that dismissed federal counts do not count as a separate prosecution.
Carro already ruled on the issue once. Back in 2025 he dismissed two terrorism-related murder counts but kept the rest, and called an earlier double jeopardy challenge premature because no earlier case had ended in a plea or a sworn jury.
A state trial planned for early fall was dropped after the federal plea. The next state court date is Dec. 10, and federal sentencing is set for Dec. 18.
Section: More Washington DC crime news
Filed under: Washington DC Crime News
