What’s next for Luigi Mangione? How an accused CEO’s killer’s notebook helped federal prosecutors build their case

It was the records found in Luigi Mangione’s notebook, authorities say, that helped investigators build a federal case against him — a well-planned murder that involved tracking his alleged victim’s movements, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

According to the federal complaint unsealed Thursday, the Aug. 15 memo said, “the details are finally coming out.” “I’m glad — in a way — that I delayed,” Mangione allegedly wrote, saying it gave him time to learn more about the company he targeted, whose name was redacted by prosecutors.

“The goal is insurance” because “she checks every box,” the notebook says, according to the complaint.

The high-profile case took an unusual turn when Mangione, 26, was indicted Thursday on new federal charges, in addition to the state charges he already faces in the Dec. 4 executive killing in Manhattan, including first-degree murder as an act of terrorism. The move appeared to surprise his lawyers.

The state and federal trials will now “run in parallel,” according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

But Mangione’s attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, said the new charges, which include murder with a firearm, two counts of stalking and a firearm offense, “raise serious constitutional and statutory double jeopardy concerns.”

Although it is unusual for federal prosecutors to take on a case like Mangione’s, legal experts say a double jeopardy plea — the doctrine that prevents anyone from being prosecuted twice for the same crime — is unlikely to succeed.

Mangione, now in federal custody, is expected to stand trial in the state, prosecutors said. But with the federal charges pending, it’s unclear when Mangione will appear in state court. Federal prosecutors are expected to seek an indictment from a grand jury.

Federal meeting introduce the possibility of Mangione being sentenced to death if convicted of the federal murder charge, while the state charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Prosecutors have not indicated whether they will seek the death penalty, and the final decision must be approved by the U.S. attorney general.

The notebook helps the feds build their case

According to the federal complaint, authorities say Mangione’s notebook “contained several handwritten pages expressing hostility toward the health insurance industry and wealthy executives in particular.”

In an article dated October 22, the author called the upcoming investor conference “a real surprise” and described the intention to “take down” the CEO of the insurance company at the conference.

“Details from the notebook helped the feds build their case because they show interstate stalking and premeditated ambushes,” said David Shapiro, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “All this is and is part of the monthly long-term plan for crossing state borders.”

Shaprio says it’s unusual for federal prosecutors to take on a case like Mangione’s because historically, homicide has been prosecuted mostly by states because it’s a jurisdictional crime.

The federal complaint added four new federal charges against Mangione, who was indicted on an 11-count indictment in New York this week. The charges include two counts of second-degree murder, one of which alleges he committed the killing “as a crime of terrorism.”

But both state and federal charges are not unprecedented.

The impetus for the federal charges came from the U.S. attorney’s office, multiple law enforcement sources told CNN. Because the FBI was already involved in the investigation, assisting the NYPD with out-of-town leads, FBI agents were asked to file a federal complaint based on evidence gathered by NYPD detectives working on the state charges and the Pennsylvania police who arrested Mangione.

Federal prosecutors say they have jurisdiction over the case because Mangione “traveled in interstate commerce” — taking a bus from Atlanta to New York before the killing — and “used interstate facilities,” allegedly using a cell phone and the Internet to “plan and to pursue, shoot and kill Thompson in broad daylight on a Manhattan sidewalk.

The defense questions the accompanying allegations

In Mangione’s first appearance in a New York court on Thursday, Anyifilo asked prosecutors to clarify whether there was a joint investigation between federal and state prosecutors or two separate investigations.

Mangione’s defense team appears poised to argue that the concurrent charges could conflict with his rights as a criminal defendant, several legal experts told CNN.

“The federal government’s reported decision to add an already overstated count of first degree murder and state terror is highly unusual and raises serious constitutional and statutory double jeopardy concerns,” Anyifilo said. “We are prepared to fight these charges in whatever court they are brought.”

Anyifilo’s request to prosecutors Thursday is about “creating smoke and doubt,” Shapiro said.

Mangione’s lawyer could file a double jeopardy motion, but that’s unlikely, according to Shapiro and Eli Honig, a CNN senior legal analyst and former federal and state prosecutor. In 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that state and federal agencies can bring charges against a person for the same conduct because they operate as separate entities.

“It does not violate the principles of double jeopardy if the same person is charged separately by the federal authorities and the state,” Honig told CNN. “That rationale is that these are separate government entities, and in this case the nature of the allegations is technically different.”

According to Shapiro, it’s unlikely that a judge at the trial level would “take the risk of ruling that it’s double jeopardy and dismiss it” because “the social stakes are enormous.”

In court Thursday, Mangione formally waived extradition and was flown from Pennsylvania to New York, arriving in Lower Manhattan surrounded by dozens of heavily armed law enforcement officers and the city’s mayor.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the state case against Mangione “will be tried concurrently” with the federal case.

However, according to Shaprio, “parallel” involves “sort of two independent tracks, one on top of the other.” Instead, he says, the two federal and state investigators are effectively “crossing like threads in a yarn. They work together.”

Finding an impartial jury can be difficult

Federal prosecutors have asked for Mangione’s detention, and his lawyers told the court they will not seek bail now but reserve the right to do so later. Mangione will be held at the Brooklyn Detention Center, the only federal prison operating in New York.

The biggest challenge facing Mangione’s prosecution is nullifying the jury because, Shapiro said, “you’re going to get a group of jurors that have some familiarity with the case.”

The killing of Thompson, a husband and father of two, exposed the anger of many Americans at the health care industry, and Mangione received widespread support on social media after his arrest. After his murder, officials witnessed a “shocking and horrifying celebration of cold-blooded murder,” said New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch.

According to Shapiro, jurors can override the law and return a verdict of not guilty based on their personal beliefs, even if they believe the evidence presented at trial proves guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

“Jury nullification is the secret hope and dream of every lawyer who doesn’t have a case,” Shapiro said. “You cannot advocate for annulment as a lawyer. But a juror can decide on their own to overturn the law, ignore the evidence, and say they won’t convict for reasons of their own.”

In both the federal and state cases against Mangione, prosecutors likely don’t want to pursue the case because it gives Mangione “a soapbox to express his views,” Shapiro said.

“I think they want Mangione to plead guilty, that’s why they’re giving him the death penalty,” he said.