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Luigi Mangione, the suspect accused in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, will appear in a Manhattan federal court Friday (January 30) morning as his attorney attempt to get a federal judge to throw out a charge that could result in the death penalty.
Mangione, 27, faces four federal charges, and a judge could potentially rule on whether to toss out two, as well as whether prosecutors can use key evidence found in his backpack at the time of his arrest. The defense attorneys argued in a court filing that prosecutors failed to identify an underlying "crime of violence" needed for the top charge of murder through use of a firearm, which is the only one of the four that could possibly result in the death penalty.
Mangione is also aiming to get another firearms offense dismissed on Friday. The suspect had previously pleaded not guilty to nine state charges, as well as four federal accounts.
Judge Gregory Carro had previously thrown out charges of murder in the first degree as an act of terrorism and murder in the second degree, but kept the second-degree murder charge in September. Mangione, who is an Ivy League graduate from a prominent Maryland real estate family, was found carrying a ghost gun, masks and a manifesto linked to the incident at the time of his arrest, authorities confirmed.