Does New York have the death penalty? Pam Bondi’s Luigi Mangione request explained

United States Attorney General Pam Bondi announced in a Tuesday, April 1 press release that her office would seek the death penalty in the Luigi Mangione case, accused of killing UnitedHealth Group’s CEO Brian Thompson on a Manhattan sidewalk in December 2024. But New York State does not have the death penalty, so if Mangione is executed, it will depend on whether he’s convicted on one of the several federal charges he’s facing.

As it stands, Mangione stands accused on New York state charges of murder as an act of terrorism and weapons offenses. He also faces parallel federal charges including murder through the use of a firearm, which has the possibility of the death penalty if convicted. If convicted in New York State, Mangione, who has pleaded not guilty on all state charges, could be sentenced to life in prison. He has not yet entered a plea on federal charges. If convicted at the federal level, Mangione could be executed. Mangione is expected back in court on federal charges in April with a state hearing in June.

Capital punishment at the New York State and federal level

BREAKING: Statement from Luigi Mangione’s attorney on Pam Bondi’s press release:
“By seeking to murder Luigi Mangione, the Justice Department has moved from the dysfunctional to the barbaric. Their decision to execute Luigi is political and goes against the recommendation of the… pic.twitter.com/KdqrTU32Tu

— The Luigi Case (@LuigiCaseFiles) April 1, 2025

Capital punishment was most recently banned in New York in 2004 when the New York Court of Appeals ruled the state statute unconstitutional. In 2008, then-Governor David Paterson ordered all execution equipment removed from state law enforcement facilities.

In 2021, the Biden administration Attorney General Merrick Garland placed a moratorium on federal executions. Dustin Higgins, a convicted accomplice to triple-murder, was the last person executed on federal charges in January 2021, before Biden took office, just one of several federal executions as Trump’s first term ended.

Bondi’s announcement her office will seek the death penalty for Mangione’s federal charges is in keeping with her stated goals to reinstate the death penalty in Trump’s second term.

In a February Bondi memorandum after Trump returned to the White House, entitled “Reviving The Federal Death Penalty And Lifting The Moratorium On Federal Executions,” Bondi’s office wrote in part,

Going forward, the Department of Justice will once again act as the law demands-including by seeking death sentences in appropriate cases and swiftly implementing those sentences in accordance with the law.”

Bondi’s memo came after a January Trump administration executive order entitled, “Restoring the Death Penalty and Protecting Public Safety,” in which Trump wrote, “The Attorney General shall pursue the death penalty for all crimes of a severity demanding its use.”

“A premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America”

Attorney General Pam Bondi directs prosecutors to seek death penalty for Luigi Mangione pic.twitter.com/uZIM70yHcp

— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) April 1, 2025

Trump’s executive order underscores two crimes for which the death penalty could be considered warranted under the new guidelines, two of which don’t apply to Mangione’s case: “A capital crime committed by an alien illegally present in this country,” or “a capital crime committed by an alien illegally present in this country.”

Mangione’s federal charges include two stalking counts and a firearms offense which aren’t eligible for the death penalty. The only way, then, Mangione could be executed is if he’s convicted on one count of using a firearm to commit murder, which carries execution as a possible maximum sentence.

If convicted on that federal charge, the decision to execute Mangione would be made by a jury in a separate chase and the verdict would need to be unanimous. According to Reuters, A judge would then have to impose the verdict.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said in her statement announcing her office would seek the death penalty on Mangione’s murder charges, “Luigi Mangione’s murder of Brian Thompson — an innocent man and father of two young children — was a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.”

She added, “After careful consideration, I have directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in this case as we carry out President Trump’s agenda to stop violent crime and Make America Safe Again.”