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The prosecution outlined the threat in a filing late Wednesday
on a procedural matter in federal court in Manhattan, where they
plan to try to convince a jury that Mangione deserves death. No
federal trial date has been set.
Mangione, who pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges,
was arrested five days after the Dec. 4 killing of CEO Brian
Thompson. He is being held without bail in a federal jail in
Brooklyn.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced in April that she was
directing federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for “an
act of political violence” and a “premeditated, cold-blooded
assassination that shocked America.”
In their filing Wednesday, prosecutors wrote that Mangione poses
a continuing danger in part because he seeks to influence
others.
“Simply put, the defendant hoped to normalize the use of
violence to achieve ideological or political objectives,” they
said. “Since the murder, certain quarters of the public — who
openly identify as acolytes of the defendant — have increasingly
begun to view violence as an acceptable, or even necessary,
substitute for reasoned political disagreement.”
In a footnote, prosecutors referenced the gunman who went into
an office building not far from where Thompson was shot in
midtown Manhattan, then killed four people including an off-duty
police officer, a financial services firm executive and a
security guard, and wounded others, including an NFL employee.
Mangione is accused of leaving behind evidence showing disdain
for the insurance industry. Similarly, the NFL headquarters
gunman identified as Shane Tamura left behind a handwritten note
blaming the league and football for causing chronic traumatic
encephalopathy, known at CTE, prosecutors noted.
Tamura, who took his own life, accused the league of hiding the
dangers of brain injuries linked to contact sports.
“Almost immediately, members of the public sympathetic to the
defendant touted Tamura’s actions as a laudable continuation of
the defendant’s philosophy,” prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said Mangione has “openly cultivated supporters” by
setting up a website and directly addressing them. They said
Mangione also has catalogued all of the supportive letters he
has received on his website.
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Associated Press Writer Michael R. Sisak contributed to this
report.
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