Luigi Mangione is expected to plead guilty as early as Friday in the federal case accusing him of stalking and killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a stunning development in a case that rattled business leaders while galvanizing their critics, according to a person familiar with the matter.
He’s pleading guilty to stalking in the federal case, and NY law can force the state murder charge to get dropped if the federal case is resolved first, due to NY double jeopardy laws.
There’s zero chance he gets acquitted anyway, so this is likely the smartest move for him.
They’re not going to drop a murder charge because he got found guilty of stalking. That’s not how double jeopardy works.
It is in New York. Charges arising from the same action are double jeopardy, even if they’re different charges.
Stalking and murder are different actions.
Stalking resulting in death, is as close to murder as you can get with federal charges. There’s no federal murder statute.
They’re the same action.
He’s not getting away without a murder charge, and he’s never getting out of prison.
Ok…. The federal charges carry a life sentence. So not sure what your point is.
The NY state law is extremely strict and this would kill the state case. That’s not opinion. That’s NY law.
It’s not an automatic kill of the state case actually. There are many legal opinions out there of how it could not, or how it could. It’s not clear cut.
The point is, either way he’s getting life (or death). If somehow he didn’t at the federal level, but was found guilty, the state can still try for murder.