US files murder charge against Mangione, Know what punishment he will get

Federal prosecutors on Thursday opened a murder case against the suspect in the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare’s chief executive, who still has the possibility of the death penalty after a trial on separate state charges.

The federal criminal complaint against suspect Luigi Mangione, 26, includes one count of using a firearm to commit murder, which carries a maximum penalty of death, as well as two counts of stalking and firearms offenses.

It came two days after the Manhattan district attorney filed state murder and terrorism charges against Mr. Mangione in the killing of executive Brian Thompson. Mr. Thompson, 50, was shot and killed on a Manhattan sidewalk this month.

The maximum sentence Mr. Mangione could face if convicted in state court is life imprisonment without parole.

Mr. Mangione was brought back to the city on Thursday after an extradition hearing in Pennsylvania, shackled and escorted by a posse of law enforcement officials. Mayor Eric Adams and top police officials attended the dramatic scene.

The federal complaint, filed on Wednesday, accuses Mr. Mangione of crossing state borders — from Atlanta to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York, where he arrived just after 10 p.m. on Nov. 24 — to pursue and eventually kill Mr. Thompson, which would give the federal government the right to prosecute him.

Mr. Mangione was taken before a federal magistrate judge in Manhattan on Thursday afternoon, who advised him of his rights. His lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, did not request bail.

Edward Y. Kim, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement that Mr. Mangione had come to the city to pursue and shoot Mr. Thompson, “all in a grossly misguided effort to broadcast Mangione’s views across the country.’’ “But this was not a debate; this was murder,” said Mr. Kim, who announced the charges with James E. Dennehy, the head of the F.B.I.’s New York office, and New York Police Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch.