(Reuters) -Luigi Mangione’s lawyers on Friday asked a judge to prevent the U.S. government from seeking the death penalty in a case accusing him of shooting and killing the CEO of UnitedHealth Group’s insurance division, in New York last year.
Mangione’s lawyers said in a filing in New York federal court that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s April 1 announcement that prosecutors would seek the death penalty was politically motivated, breached government protocols for death penalty decisions and “indelibly prejudiced” the process.
“The United States government intends to kill Mr. Mangione as a political stunt,” his lawyers said.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen and Ismail Shakil; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Chizu Nomiyama)
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