Suspected killer Luigi Mangione’s defense team has claimed prosecutors are trying to “bias the public” after releasing diary entries that reveal a possible motive for the fatal shooting of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Mangione, 27, has been charged on state and federal levels for the murder of Thompson on the streets of Manhattan in December. He faces a terrorism charge in New York, and federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Mangione has pleaded not guilty in both cases.
Earlier this month, state prosecutors included excerpts from what they believe to be Mangione’s handwritten diary in a court filing to justify his murder as an act of terrorism charge.
One of the entries read, per ABC News: “I finally feel confident about what I will do. The details are coming together. And I don’t feel any doubt about whether it’s right/justified. I’m glad in a way that I’ve procrastinated bc it allowed me to learn more about UHC.”
Prosecutors wrote in the filing that Mangione’s “intentions were obvious from his acts, but his writings serve to make those intentions explicit,” The Associated Press reported.
Mangione’s defense team argued in a Friday filing that the prosecution hopes to “undermine his right to a fair trial” with the release of the written excerpts.
“The defense has provided irrefutable evidence that the search of Mr. Mangione’s alleged backpack may be illegal, and its fruits may therefore be suppressed. In response, the prosecution preemptively released his alleged journal to the public. The prosecution’s actions further no legitimate objective,” read the new filing reviewed by The Independent.
It continued: “The only rationale that makes sense is that the prosecution hopes to bias the public against Mr. Mangione and undermine his right to a fair trial. This would be wrong in any case. But it is especially so where, as here, the defendant faces a potential death sentence in federal court for the same exact offense.”
Mangione’s defense team has been trying to get his state murder charges thrown out. In a May court filing, they called his state and federal cases, as well as a third case in Pennsylvania involving gun possession and other charges, “unprecedented prosecutorial one-upmanship.”
A trial date for Mangione’s federal case is expected to be set during a December hearing.
