Luigi Mangione prosecutors directed to seek death penalty in federal CEO murder case

Attorney General Pam Bondi has ordered federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in the case against Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Bondi said on Tuesday that Thompson's murder was "a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America."

"After careful consideration, I have directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in this case as we carry out President Trump’s agenda to stop violent crime and Make America Safe Again," she said.

Acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky will seek the death penalty in the case.

LUIGI MANGIONE’S JOURNAL NOT ‘MANIFESTO’ ABOUT HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY GRIEVANCES, ATTORNEY ARGUES 

In a statement, Mangione's New York defense attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, said that the move to seek the death penalty is "barbaric."

"Their decision to execute Luigi is political and goes against the recommendation of the local federal prosecutors, the law, and historical precedent. While claiming to protect against murder, the federal government moves to commit the pre-meditated, state-sponsored murder of Luigi. By doing this, they are defending the broken, immoral, and murderous healthcare industry that continues to terrorize the American people," Agnifilo said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

"We are prepared to fight these federal charges, brought by a lawless Justice Department, as well as the New York State charges, and the Pennsylvania charges, and anything else they want to pile on Luigi."

Agnifilo asserted that Mangione is "caught in a high-stakes game of tug-of-war between state and federal prosecutors, except the trophy is a young man’s life."

Mangione, a 2020 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, is accused of shooting Thompson to death outside a Manhattan hotel on Dec. 4, 2024. 

He faces numerous state and federal charges, including murder in the first degree "in furtherance of an act of terrorism." He has pleaded not guilty to state charges but has not yet entered a plea for federal charges.

Thompson, a 50-year-old husband and father of two from Minnesota, was at the New York City hotel for an investor conference when he was gunned down from behind on the sidewalk.

Thompson joined UnitedHealth Group in 2004 and held a variety of leadership roles over the course of his career. He served as the chief financial officer for several of the company's businesses, including its employer and individual, community and state, and Medicare and retirement divisions.

WATCH ‘DENY, DEFEND, DELAY: THE MURDER OF A CEO’ ON FOX NATION 

Thompson also served as the financial controller for UnitedHealthcare's employer and individual business and as a director in corporate development.

Justice Department records show the federal government has executed 16 people since 2001, beginning with the deaths of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and, eight days later, American drug trafficker Juan Raul Garza, who had two men killed and executed a third himself.

Notably, 13 of those executions came during President Trump's first term in office.

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There are currently 40 federal inmates on death row, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, and the list includes surviving Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as well as Dylann Roof, who massacred nine parishioners in a South Carolina church.

Fox News Digital reached out to Mangione's attorneys.

Fox News' Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.