The 26-year-old Ivy League grad charged with murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a Manhattan sidewalk this month has been indicted by a grand jury in the case, the district attorney’s office announced Tuesday. Luigi Mangione is accused of first-degree murder, in furtherance of terrorism...
Previously the reporting on this did not have a political angle and so it was removed from Politics and correctly directed to News.
The charges related to terrorism now give this a political angle.
"Luigi Mangione is accused of first-degree murder, in furtherance of terrorism; second-degree murder, one count of which is charged as killing as an act of terrorism; criminal possession of a weapon and other crimes."
"The act must be committed with the intent to intimidate or coerce a civilian population or influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion."
They aren't dropping the second degree murder charge, so they don't necessarily have to meet the higher bar that this sets.
That said, while they probably want to be able to paint him as a terrorist, that necessarily involves a more detailed look at what he was trying to accomplish, and that might just backfire on the prosecution. It only takes one sympathetic juror to block a guilty verdict.
That said, while they probably want to be able to paint him as a terrorist, that necessarily involves a more detailed look at what he was trying to accomplish, and that might just backfire on the prosecution. It only takes one sympathetic juror to block a guilty verdict.
The second part of the statue, to cause government action, does seem kind of appropriate. But I highly doubt he thought he could pull that off and it's going to take a lot more 2nd player characters to get there.