this post was submitted on 16 Apr 2025
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In December, Luigi Mangione was arrested for shooting health insurance executive Brian Thompson. Last week, Trump’s attorney general, Pam Bondi, announced that she was seeking the death penalty. It’s a highly unusual announcement, since Mangione hasn’t even been indicted yet on a federal level. (He has been indicted in Manhattan.) By intervening in this high-profile case, the Trump administration has made clear that it believes that CEOs are especially important people whose deaths need to be swiftly and mercilessly avenged.

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[–] Freshparsnip@lemm.ee 31 points 3 hours ago

He should run for office

[–] LeninsOvaries@lemmy.cafe 54 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

I'm glad they're seeking the death penalty.

Because it makes it much easier for the defence team to argue that the prosecution is trying to turn the law into a spectacle, and that Luigi should be acquitted of all charges.

[–] orcrist@lemm.ee 2 points 21 minutes ago

It doesn't much matter if it's easier for the defense to argue that. It matters what the judge and jury find.

[–] InverseParallax@lemmy.world 7 points 2 hours ago

The federal system gives the judge a lot more power, they can basically pick the jury and evidence themselves, and appeals really, really suck.

[–] SulaymanF@lemmy.world 63 points 6 hours ago

The bullets Mangione used to kill Thomson had “deny,” “delay,” and “depose” inscribed on them.

Allegedly. The reporter forgot to be professional for a moment.

[–] Gudl@feddit.org 19 points 6 hours ago (1 children)
[–] imetators@lemm.ee 7 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

Californians would die of heart attack after eating all of them

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 1 points 33 minutes ago

after they first died of state mandated cancer

[–] whiskeytango@lemm.ee 8 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (1 children)

At least then they could afford to have a heart attack. Heck, have two

[–] ComradeRachel@lemmy.blahaj.zone 89 points 9 hours ago (6 children)

I think the death penalty being on the table would increase the likelihood of the jury finding a reasonable doubt or jury nullification. It would only hurt the prosecution imo.

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 60 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

OR it's going to prejudice the jury against him, like it usually does.

When capital punishment is on the table, only people who are in favor of it are selected for the jury, and people who are in favor of state murder are MUCH more likely to return a guilty verdict than people who aren't.

That's one of hundreds of reasons why civilized legal systems don't murder prisoners anymore.

[–] LeninsOvaries@lemmy.cafe 14 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Why the fuck does the prosecution have the ability to put punishments on the table that are known to bias jury selection?

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 20 points 4 hours ago

Because the system itself is rigged in favor of the prosecution by design.

[–] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 4 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Doesn't the defense have just as much say in terms of who gets selected out and which signals are used to parse that

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

Not really, no.

AFAIK, the defense and the prosecution get the same number of "just because it's bad for my side" exclusions, but not being inclined to render a guilty verdict if there's a possibility of the death penalty is an automatic exclusion that doesn't count towards the prosecution's "freebies".

So yeah, the moment death penalty is on the table, the jury will be biased AND the defense will be much more likely to consider a plea deal for a lesser punishment, further stacking the deck in favor of the prosecution winning one way or the other regardless of actual guilt.

[–] Chozo@fedia.io 17 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Yep, if you set the bar extraordinarily high, then you have to jump extraordinarily high. Bondi's likely doing more harm than good for her cause.

[–] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 39 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Assuming his trial is carried out normally and isn't a sham

[–] char_stats@lemm.ee 5 points 8 hours ago

This ☝️

[–] neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 9 hours ago

I kind of agree, if I were in the jury, it would make me think twice about finding them guilty since I would feel like I have someone’s death on my hands.

[–] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 13 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (2 children)

Why does it feel like the trump administration would use Mangione's acquittal by jury as a reason to try to attack and do away with the 6th Amendment (trial by jury amendment)?

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 1 points 31 minutes ago

they blocked the corpse pile at cecot on apple maps but what about the other satellite photo providers?

[–] EmptySlime@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 7 hours ago (2 children)

Luckily it would be really hard for them to actually get rid of it. I wouldn't put it past them to try to start doing summary executions or just illegally trying to detain people without trial or whatever but there's 0 chance they get the support to actually remove that amendment.

[–] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 1 points 32 minutes ago

The tact taken by this administration isn't trying to amend the Constitution, its to simply ignore it. There are three branches of government in the USA. trump's Executive branch and the Legislative appear to be in nearly lock-step in ignoring the Constitution and their duties to uphold it. The Supreme Court has capitulated in almost every action trump's Executive has asked, with only minor pushback. The recent 9-0 Supreme Court decision requiring the trump administration to return of Ábrego García to the USA is the first real pushback we've seen. So far trump is continuing to ignore the return requirement.

In other words, the Constitution is worthless if the bodies in power charged with its defense choose to simply break their oath of office and not defend it.

[–] whostosay@lemmy.world 5 points 6 hours ago

They're just going to skip the courts altogether like they've been doing.

[–] primemagnus@lemmy.ca 8 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Trump and his sycophants are really really dumb. Like, really. All they have is muscle. Zero brains.

[–] whiskeytango@lemm.ee 6 points 3 hours ago

I didn't realize muscle was so flabby

[–] takeda@lemm.ee 8 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

My worry is that trump is thinking of sending him to CECOT.

[–] SulaymanF@lemmy.world 5 points 6 hours ago

Trump always starts with the “worst” criminals as he knows it’s hard for Democrats or others to object since they don’t want to be “on the side of criminals,” but it won’t end there.