(Bloomberg) -- Luigi Mangione was charged with murder by federal prosecutors for the killing of UnitedHealth Group Inc. executive Brian Thompson, which his lawyer said is a sign that prosecutors may seek the death penalty.
Karen Friedman Agnifilo, a lawyer for Mangione, told a US judge in New York that one of the federal charges was “death eligible.” She also complained that the theories between separate cases filed by state and federal prosecutors “seemed” different.
The federal charges were unexpectedly announced shortly after Mangione, 26, agreed to return to New York from Pennsylvania to face state murder charges at a hearing there on Thursday. He was swiftly taken into custody by New York police and flown to the Empire State but then appeared in a US court.
“Frankly, I’ve never seen anything like what is happening here” in more than three decades of practicing law, Friedman Agnifilo told Magistrate Judge Katharine Parker Thursday.
Mangione was wearing a dark sweater and tan slacks, having changed out of the orange jumpsuit he had worn earlier in a Pennsylvania courtroom and while he was being moved. He spoke only to acknowledge his rights and that he understood the charges against him.
He was remanded into custody after Friedman Agnifilo didn’t ask for bail.
One of the federal charges could allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty, while New York state hasn’t executed a convicted felon in more than 60 years. If US prosecutors want to seek the punishment, their request would have to be submitted to a Justice Department committee and the Attorney General would make a final determination.
Mangione has emerged as a sort of antihero to some people who are angered by health insurers. Shell casings and a bullet found at the scene were etched with the words “Deny,” “Depose,” and “Delay,” prosecutors said. Robert Tsigler, a New York defense attorney, said the US may have felt it was necessary to step in given the surge of support for Mangione “against corporate America and the insurance industry.”
‘Send a Message’
“My hunch is that is what cased the federal government to step in here to try to send a message,” Tsigler said.
A spokesman for the US Attorney in Manhattan declined to comment on whether the government would seek the death penalty.
The cases stems from the brazen murder of Thompson on Dec. 4 when Mangione allegedly shot him from behind with a 9-millimeter, 3D-printed ghost gun. On Tuesday, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced first-degree state murder charges that could send Mangione to prison without the possibility of parole.
Bragg said that state and federal prosecutors have previously brought cases in tandem.
“We’re in conversations with our law enforcement counterparts,” Bragg said at a press conference related to another case.
The Justice Department said in a statement that the state case is expected to go to trial before the federal case. An arraignment, where Mangione would enter a plea on the state charges, had been expected to take place Thursday, but was pushed back after the federal court hearing.
The federal complaint unsealed Thursday contained chilling details from a notebook prosecutors said was taken from Mangione when he was arrested earlier this month. In one entry, he described an intent to “wack” the chief executive officer of the UnitedHealth insurance unit.
The document pieces together Mangione’s movements in the lead up to and after the shooting, drawing on security camera footage from around Manhattan. Mangione arrived in Manhattan on a bus from Atlanta on Nov. 24 and checked into a hostel on the Upper West Side with a fake New Jersey driver’s license with the name Mark Rosario. On the day of the shooting, Mangione allegedly left the hostel at 5:35 a.m. and rode an e-bike down to Midtown. Just over an hour later he allegedly shot Thompson on the street.
‘Procrastinated’
Details from Mangione’s notebook taken from when he was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, allegedly described how “the details are finally coming together” and “I’m glad in a way that I’ve procrastinated” because it allowed him to learn more about UnitedHealth.
“This investor conference is a true windfall...and...most importantly — the message becomes self evident,” Mangione said in one entry.
Earlier Thursday, Mangione appeared in a Pennsylvania court to waive extradition to New York. He was clean-shaven when he was escorted into the courtroom.
Before the extradition hearing started, he leafed through a report prepared by the Altoona police. At various times, he arched his eyebrows, whispered with a sheriff’s officer and grinned widely.
When the lawyers came out, Judge David Consiglio held a extradition hearing and then Mangione was on his way to New York.
--With assistance from Patricia Hurtado and Erik Larson.
(Updates with New York court appearance starting in fourth paragraph)
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