Attorney General Pam Bondi has directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for Luigi Mangione

Attorney General Pam Bondi said Tuesday that the Justice Department will pursue the death sentence for alleged CEO murderer Luigi Mangione.

Ms. Bondi stated that her decision was made after "careful consideration" and was consistent with President Trump's executive order authorizing the Justice Department to renew death penalty petitions after President Biden imposed a moratorium on capital punishment for the majority of federal criminals beginning in 2021.

“Luigi Mangione’s murder of Brian Thompson — an innocent man and father of two young children — was a premeditated, coldblooded assassination that shocked America,” Ms. Bondi said in a statement.

Ms. Bondi ordered Matthew Podolsky, the acting US attorney in Manhattan, to seek the death sentence. On Tuesday, Nicholas Biase, a spokesman for the agency that is prosecuting Mr. Mangione's federal case, declined to comment.

Mangione faces state and federal charges for allegedly shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Midtown Manhattan in December. He has pled not guilty to the state counts. Mangione was accused in a federal criminal complaint but has yet to be indicted.

Karen Friedman Agnifilo, Mangione's attorney, said she was in talks with the Justice Department about the decision. Agnifilo said Tuesday that the Justice Department's demand for the death penalty demonstrates that it has "moved from the dysfunctional to the barbaric."

“Their decision to execute Luigi is political and goes against the recommendation of the local federal prosecutors, the law, and historical precedent,” Agnifilo said in a statement. “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.”

According to an official familiar with the issue, the agency will likely publish further petitions for the death sentence when they assess situations where doing so would be appropriate.

Thirteen federal convicts were executed during the final year of Mr. Trump's first administration, breaking an informal 17-year moratorium. In 2019, Attorney General William P. Barr said that the Trump administration planned to begin executions of federal death row convicts with a lethal injection of the medication pentobarbital. Legal hurdles momentarily hampered such attempts.

The federal criminal complaint accuses Mangione of murder with a firearm, two stalking offenses, and a weapons violation.

Mangione is being detained in federal prison in Brooklyn, New York, but officials have stated his case in New York state court will be heard first.

A Manhattan grand jury indicted him on 11 counts, including one case of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder, as well as weapons and forgery charges. If convicted of the state counts, he risks a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

The first-degree murder indictment states that he killed the executive "in furtherance of an act of terrorism," which is legally defined as the aim to frighten or compel the civilian population or a government body. One of the second-degree accusations further charges Mangione with murder "as a crime of terrorism."

The 26-year-old is also facing state charges in Pennsylvania, where he was apprehended following a weeklong manhunt in December.

He entered not guilty pleas in both trials.

On his first day in office, Mr. Trump signed an executive order directing the department to pursue the death sentence for "crimes of a severity demanding its use," regardless of "other factors."

The ruling listed two instances that do not appear to be directly related to the acts Mr. Mangione is accused of: the murder of a law enforcement officer and a capital offense committed by an unauthorized immigrant.

During his first term, Trump's government carried out the first federal executions in nearly two decades, killing 13 convicts in the months leading up to his departure. Throughout the 2024 campaign, Trump expressed his willingness to resume federal executions.

President Joe Biden, on the other hand, obstructed his successor's ambition by commuting the execution sentences of 37 federal death row convicts to life in prison, leaving only three guilty of high-profile mass shootings or terrorist actions.

Bondi mirrored Trump's executive order when she assumed office in early February, publishing a memorandum condemning Biden's commutes. They, according to her, "severely undermined the rule of law" or "betrayed our sacred duty and broke our promise to achieve justice."

Mr. Mangione's execution would need federal prosecutors to persuade a panel of jurors to vote unanimously in favor of his death.

The effort may be challenging, especially considering Mr. Mangione's public support since the murder.