(Reuters) - A federal grand jury has indicted Luigi Mangione, who is accused of murdering a UnitedHealth Group executive in New York last year, allowing prosecutors to seek the death penalty in his case, according to court filings on Thursday.
Mangione, 26, is already facing state murder and weapons charges in New York, which does not have the death penalty. The federal indictment does not include new charges but raises the stakes for Mangione, who has pleaded not guilty to the state charges.
Mangione's lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.The U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan declined to comment.
The indictment means that a grand jury found probable cause to charge Mangione with murder, stalking and firearms offenses. A hearing in the federal case is scheduled for Friday in Manhattan federal court.
Mangione has asked a judge to prevent federal prosecutors from seeking the death penalty. His lawyers in a filing last week said U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi's April 1 announcement that prosecutors would seek the death penalty was "unapologetically political" and breached government protocols for death penalty decisions.
If that bid fails and Mangione is convicted in the federal case, the jury would determine in a separate phase of the trial whether to recommend the death penalty. Any such recommendation must be unanimous, and the judge would be required to impose it.
Brian Thompson, the deceased CEO of UnitedHealth's insurance division, was shot dead on December 4 outside a hotel in Midtown Manhattan, where the company was gathering for an investor conference.
The brazen killing of Thompson and ensuing five-day manhunt captivated Americans.
While public officials condemned the killing, some Americans have cheered Mangione, saying he drew attention to steep U.S. healthcare costs and the power of health insurers to refuse payment for some treatments. Mangione is currently being held in federal lockup in Brooklyn.
(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York and Jack Queen in New York; editing by Diane Craft)
