Attorney General Pam Bondi announced this week the Justice Department will seek the death penalty for Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old charged in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December.
Luigi Mangione is escorted into Manhattan criminal court for his arraignment on Dec. 23, 2024. (AP/Seth Wenig)
More to the point, Trump signed an executive order resuming executions of federal death row prisoners — ending the moratorium enacted by President Joe Biden, who nearly cleared death row in the twilight of his tenure — and directing Bondi to pursue the death penalty “for all crimes of a severity demanding its use.”
In cases where a law enforcement officer is the victim of murder or the defendant is an immigrant without legal status, Trump’s government will seek the death penalty “regardless of other factors.”
Even if you’re in the camp that says it’s OK for the government to put someone to death, tales of exoneration and prosecutorial misconduct remind us the process doesn’t always pan out properly. Since 1973, at least 200 people who were wrongly convicted and sentenced to death in the U.S. have been exonerated.
The California Supreme Court reversed the conviction and death sentence of a 51-year-old man found guilty of murder over 15 years ago, finding the trial court improperly removed a juror during deliberations.
And the appeals process itself isn’t black and white. The Supreme Court declined to examine whether a biased jury wrongfully resulted in a Missouri man’s first-degree murder conviction and death sentence. The Eighth Circuit blocked the appeal — but one judge voted to grant it, which would have been enough for the appeal to proceed in four sister circuits.
Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.
“Allowing a panel of judges to deny a certificate of appealability over a dissenting vote has significant consequences,” Sotomayor wrote.
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen arrives at a Paris court. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
The Paris criminal court found Marine Le Pen, the extreme-right leader of France’s National Rally party, guilty of embezzlement and sentenced her to four years in prison, a $108,000 fine and, crucially, a five-year term of ineligibility to run for office. [Lily Radziemski]
Smoking SCOTUS: The Supreme Court sided with the FDA in a challenge to the agency’s power to block nicotine e-liquids that may be attractive to children from the market — and ruled in favor of a truck driver who sued a company that sold him (supposedly THC-free) CBD drops that cost him his job after a failed drug test. [Kelsey Reichmann, Ryan Knappenberger]
In a new feature, reporter Matt Simons explores “mutual combat” laws and why a viral 2012 Seattle brawl has captivated online communities of men who daydream about quick fist-to-face justice.
Rulings on our radar 📡
» Southern District of New York: The corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams is dismissed permanently.
» Northern District of California: A judge thinned a lawsuit against baby food manufacturers Nestle, Campbell Soup Company and Sun-Maid Growers of California claiming toxic heavy metals in their products caused kids to develop autism and ADHD.
» White House via Eastern District of New York: Trump granted clemency to Carlos Watson, founder of the now-defunct Ozy Media, who received nine years in prison for his wire fraud and identity theft convictions. Watson was also ordered to pay $96 million in restitution and forfeiture.
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