DOJ employees may have violated rule in Luigi Mangione case, judge says
A federal judge said Wednesday that multiple Department of Justice employees may have violated a rule regarding Luigi Mangione's right to a fair trial.
Mangione is facing federal and state charges in connection with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December.
Mangione's attorneys filed a letter alleging the government continues to prejudice him.
The letter included screenshots, purportedly of DOJ employees re-posting comments President Trump made about Mangione, along with opinions. The social posts were later deleted, defense attorneys said.
"The Government has indelibly prejudiced Mr. Mangione by baselessly linking him to unrelated violent events, and left-wing extremist groups, despite there being no connection or affiliation. A recent, tragic, high-profile murder has only increased this prejudicial rhetoric," Mangione's attorney, Karen Agnifilo, wrote in her filing.
"The attempts to connect Mr. Mangione with these incidents and paint him as a 'left wing' violent extremist are false, prejudicial, and part of a greater political narrative that has no place in any criminal case, especially one where the death penalty is at stake. Mr. Mangione in fact does not support these violent actions, does not condone past or future political violence, nor is he in any way aligned with the group mentioned in the White House press release," Agnifilo continued.
In response, Judge Margaret Garnett issued a statement saying that it appears, based on the letter and screenshots, that multiple DOJ employees may have violated Local Criminal Rule 23.1 and a court order from April to follow that rule.
She clarified that the rule in question provides prosecutors or their employees "not to release or authorize the release of ... opinion that a reasonable person would expect to be disseminated by means of public communication, in connection with pending... criminal litigation with which they are associated, if there is a substantial likelihood that the dissemination will interfere with a fair trial or otherwise prejudice the true administration of justice."
The judge ordered the government to respond by Oct. 3, and wants to know what future steps will be taken to ensure no future violations happen. She warned otherwise there could be sanctions.
A spokesperson for the DOJ declined comment on Wednesday..
