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The 26-year-old Maryland man is accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel.
Mangione is scheduled to appear in federal court in Manhattan on Friday, April 18. It will be his first court appearance since February.
In a new court filing, Mangione’s attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, argued that law enforcement is unfairly using leaked writings to justify what she called an "unusual" first-degree murder charge as an act of terrorism.
“Since the inception of this case, law enforcement has consistently leaked writings purported to be written by Mr. Mangione, while also prejudicially labeling these writings a 'manifesto' to the media,” Friedman Agnifilo wrote.
“By releasing these writings to the public and calling them a manifesto, law enforcement is responsible for causing the very public alarm that they are now trying to attribute to Mr. Mangione, which is the basis for charging him with the enhanced charge of murder in the first degree as an act of terrorism."
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to murder charges in the December killing of Thompson, who was gunned down outside the New York Hilton just before UnitedHealthcare’s annual investor event.
Federal prosecutors say the killing was a politically motivated act of terror, involving premeditation and public endangerment. Mangione is being held at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, where rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs is also in custody on unrelated charges.
Friedman Agnifilo argued that the government’s narrative relies on a mischaracterization.
“There is absolutely no evidence that Mr. Mangione ever released the writings that law enforcement is attributing to him publicly; any publishing was done by law enforcement,” she wrote.
“By painting Mr. Mangione as a 'terrorist' and releasing a purported 'manifesto,' law enforcement is intending to prejudice Mr. Mangione and cause the public alarm and fear that they now attribute to him,” the filing states.
“This is problematic and fatal to the government's charge of murder in the first degree, which requires said murder to be in furtherance of an act of terrorism 'intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population.' ”
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