BREAKING: Mangione defense urges NY judge to dismiss state charges under double jeopardy after federal guilty plea

Following Luigi Mangione pleading guilty to federal charges on Friday morning, his defense has filed a motion in state court urging the judge to dismiss the charges under the state's double jeopardy law. Mangione's state case is currently scheduled to go to trial on September 8.

Karen Friedman Agnifilo, Mangione’s attorney, spoke after the hearing, saying the plea triggers New York’s double jeopardy law. She said Mangione “has accepted full responsibility for the death of Brian Thompson.”

“Yet, he’s being prosecuted twice for the same conduct. As Luigi explained in court today, he endured years of severe, debilitating pain, following a broken back, while struggling to navigate our healthcare and health insurance systems. Like the thousands of people who have reached out since this tragedy to share their own experiences, he believed that the system had failed him and destroyed his life,” she said.

She said Mangione has been “unfairly treated since the outset in every way, and has successfully fought off terrorism charges and the death penalty, while also fighting at the same time two simultaneous prosecutions in two jurisdictions who are trying to punish him twice for the exact [same] conduct. He’s been treated differently from every other defendant charged with this offense in New York.”

“However, thankfully, New York law does not allow this. New York law does not permit a person to be prosecuted and punished twice for the exact same crime under a statute that governs successive prosecutions, also known as the double jeopardy law.” She said that the defense has filed a motion in state court for the charges in that case to be dismissed under New York’s double jeopardy law.