Luigi Mangione was indicted Tuesday for murder as an act of terrorism in the death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. The most serious of these is first-degree murder in furtherance of terrorism and includes a similar second-degree murder charge, plus several around criminal possession of a weapon.
The accusations of terrorism led many critics of the U.S. healthcare system to wonder why people who have been charged with premeditated crimes and also left manifestos didn’t get the same treatment.
What is an indictment?
Under U.S. law, an indictment is a formal accusation of a criminal act. Under most jurisdictions, after authorities lay charges, the court forms a Grand Jury that reviews the evidence presented by the prosecutor to decide whether the case should move forward to trial.
If the jury finds that the evidence is lacking, the case will be dismissed. The jury may also find that some of the charges are legitimate and others are not. An indictment does not mean that the accused person is guilty.
What is terrorism?
Terrorism is defined under U.S. law (18 U.S.C., section 2331) as an illegal and violent or dangerous act meant to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, influence government policy, or affect the conduct of a government.
In a statement on Mangione’s indictment, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg accused the 26-year-old of attempting to intimidate a certain group of people.
“This was a frightening, well-planned, targeted murder that was intended to cause shock and attention and intimidation,” he said. “It occurred in one of the most bustling parts of our city, threatening the safety of local residents and tourists alike, commuters and businesspeople just starting out on their day.”
Who is and isn’t a terrorist?
The terrorism charges take the Mangione case to a new level. It’s rare for even mass shooters to be formally accused of this crime, even when they leave manifestos behind or their actions impact specific sections of the population.
Some have evoked the case of Kyle Rittenhouse, who shot three men and killed two of them during protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. A jury indicted him on two counts of homicide among other charges, but not terrorism, despite the argument that his actions could intimidate similar protesters of an alleged act of anti-Black violence.
Even in the case of the January 6 defendants, some of whom called for the hanging of former Vice President Mike Pence and made threatening statements about lawmakers, prosecutors went out of their way to avoid terrorism charges. According to a Politico report, although prosecutors initially said that the rioters’ actions constituted terrorism, they later pulled back repeatedly from laying the charge.
Additionally, multiple mass shooters have written manifestos explicitly targeting specific racial or ethnic groups or declared intent to start some kind of race war. For these individuals, who often target average or low-income areas, terrorism investigations often occurred but rarely led to terrorism charges. For instance, the El Paso Walmart shooter specifically chose the border town to target Latinos. He pleaded guilty to 90 criminal counts, none of them terrorism-related.
What’s the difference with the Luigi Mangione case?
Among those who are vocally critical of the U.S. health insurance industry and the national wealth gap, the difference in the Mangione case is clear. He targeted someone with money and power, and not at the behest of anyone else with money and power.
The reaction to the CEO shooting has been distinct in several ways. New York is reportedly considering launching a special hotline for reporting threats to CEOs after Governor Kathy Hochul hosted a safety call to address the executives’ fears. A woman was arrested for using the words “deny, depose, defend” during a call to her health insurance company.
Meanwhile, Trump’s counterterrorism czar-to-be Sebastian Gorka appeared to compare Mangione’s sympathizers with groups labeled as terrorists in the 1970s.
“This case looks already to be a peculiar concatenation of what we saw in the 70s with the rich white kids of the SDS [Students for a Democratic Society] turning into a terrorist organization,” he said in a Newsmax interview.
This is the same man who was charged with a misdemeanor for trying to bring a gun through airport security, which Gorka’s lawyer called a “mistake.” Circuit Court Judge William Newman dismissed the case in 2017.
Legally speaking though, Mangione was charged with terrorism because prosecutors alleged Mangione’s actions were “intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population” and “influence the operations of a government unit through murder,” according to The New York Times. Furthermore, the busy location of the murder, New York state laws, and the aforementioned “tangible fear reported by executives since the shooting” all played a role in the charge.
Mangione fans express their dissent
These sympathizers widely consider Luigi Mangione being indicted with terrorism charges as another form of special treatment enjoyed by the rich. Many are led to wonder why the definition of “violence” itself includes the killing of a CEO, but not his efforts to increase claim denials that lead to mass suffering.
“The terrorism charge is prosecutorial overreach meant to send a message to the ruling class that the state is on their side,” writes X user @rtyson82. “Meanwhile, no health insurance executives will be indicted for the tens of thousands of people that die every year due to their care not being covered.”
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