Blitz Bureau
NEW YORK: Attorney-General Pam Bondi is seeking the death penalty for Luigi Mangione, who is charged with killing a health insurance CEO, but has emerged as a sort of folk hero in some circles, reported IANS.
Calling the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson “a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America”, Bondi said, “I have directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in this case”. She said it was in keeping with “President Trump’s agenda to stop violent crime and Make America Safe Again”. Bondi described the killing as “an act of political violence”.
Mangione allegedly shot dead Thompson in front of a hotel in the middle of New York in December, driven by opposition to what he considered the way health insurance companies treat their clients. He is facing murder charges in a federal court, rather than in a New York court because federal prosecutors say he crossed state borders to carry out the crime. If he had been charged in a New York state court, he would not face the death penalty as the state has abolished it.
In a break from the state party line, New York’s Democrat Mayor Eric Adams said he respected the decision by federal officials to call for the death penalty, saying, “It was a horrific act”.
