Luigi Mangione stunned a New York courtroom on Friday (February 6) after furiously making a bold claim that's already been rejected by legal experts in the US.
Mangione is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, who was shot and killed as he left the Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan on December 4 2024.
Mangione was later arrested at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, following a tip-off from an employee at the fast-food joint.
He was charged with 11 state criminal counts in New York, including first-degree murder and murder as a crime of terrorism. The latter has since been dropped.
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On top of that, Mangione was indicted on federal charges of using a firearm to commit murder and interstate stalking resulting in death.
After avoiding the death penalty, US District Judge Margaret Garnett has since thrown out a federal murder charge against the 27-year-old due to it being technically flawed.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to both the state and federal charges, and could face life imprisonment if he's found guilty.
On Friday, a New York state judge ordered that Mangione's state murder trial will take place before his federal appearance in court.
The state trial is pencilled in for June 8 this year, with the federal trial following three months later in September.
Mangione's legal team claims the decision to have the state trial first is being done to avoid the New York law against double jeopardy, which prevents a suspect from being convicted twice for the same crime.
"It's the same trial twice," Mangione yelled in court as he was taken out of the room in handcuffs. "One plus one equals two. Double jeopardy by any common sense definition."
Rolling Stone spoke to lawyers following Mangione's outburst, who revealed that double jeopardy can't come into play until a suspect has been found guilty or acquitted of a crime.
The outlet explains that if the suspect was found guilty in one trial, they could argue double jeopardy in a bid to get the second indictment thrown out.
The suspect's attorney, Karen Friedman, also addressed the court's decision, saying: "All I will say is double jeopardy is meant to protect people and they're using it as a weapon here, so it's unfair."
She added: "Mr. Mangione is being put in an untenable situation. This is a tug-of-war between two different prosecution offices. The defense will not be ready on June 8."
Mangione is now not due back in court until May, when a decision is expected on the defence's request to exclude certain items of evidence which prosecutors claim link Mangione to the killing of Thompson.
The items include a 9 mm handgun, which prosecutors say matches the description of the weapon used to kill Thompson in December 2024.
Topics: Luigi Mangione, New York, Crime, US News
Callum Jones