Defense attorneys for alleged CEO killer Luigi Mangione said Thursday in a new court filing that the murder indictment a state grand jury returned against him should be dismissed due to double jeopardy and other alleged violations.
The indictment should be dismissed “because concurrent state and federal prosecutions violate the Double Jeopardy Clause, the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause and Mr. Mangione’s constitutional rights against self-incrimination, to meaningfully defend himself, to a fair and impartial jury and to the effective assistance of counsel,” defense attorneys wrote.
Defense attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo said in the filing that “prosecutorial one-upmanship” resulted in Mangione facing state and federal charges in New York and separate charges in Pennsylvania.
You know, I thought that too at one point, but if the defendant’s lawyer is trying to use double jeopardy to get this incredibly high profile, publicly scrutinized case thrown out, we should just sit down, shut up, and listen to the professionals
It’s likely just a tactic to set him up for an appeal later. The only reason you can appeal a case is if you can show that you weren’t given a fair trial.
So this is his lawyers going “you’re probably going to be railroaded and found guilty, so let’s at least ensure you have as many avenues for appeal as possible. If we force the courts to officially put it into record that you have to defend both trials at the same time, you can argue that your attorneys weren’t able to effectively do so, and therefore your constitutional right to an attorney was violated.”
Right, sure. At which point, pointing out that “double jeopardy doesn’t apply” is kind of just needless pedantry.
I mean, it doesn’t apply. That is already pretty firmly established by precedent. But again, this is simply getting the courts to officially acknowledge that the prosecutors are pushing ahead even though they know the lawyers are stretched thin.
I’m not saying I agree with the doctrine; in fact I think it’s unjust and would prefer it being tossed, though I seriously doubt he has any chance of succeeding on this claim, especially with the current SCOTUS. And I doubt the state’s lawyers are that incompetent as to ignore it.
Nah fuck em, we all know he did it.
We usually don’t like saying that due to a phenomeome called ‘Trial by public opinion’. He has not yet been proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt, neither can you prove so. Decreeing someone guilty, even outside of court, without proof, can negatively influence jurors to deliver a guilty verdict even if the defense creates a reasonable doubt.
If I were the prosecutor in this case I think leaning on the fact that Luigi Mangione travelled to the area of the crime scene, was seen on cameras nearby, and left the area of the crime and city quickly and discreetly with a backpack full of $20,000 cash and a Glock-19, a 9-millimeter semiautomatic pistol, with a custom part that Luigi Designed and 3D Printed in his home which matches the profile of the weapon used to murder Brian Thompson, might be beyond reasonable doubt. If not, then at least conspiracy to commit a crime, because bro was not on a vacation or business trip that is for certain.