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Luigi Mangione faces 11 state charges, including murder

and

terrorism

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Maximum NY sentence is life without parole if convicted

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Federal charges could lead to death penalty

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Charges based on conflicting theories, says defense lawyer

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Mangione seen as folk hero by some for anti-healthcare

industry

stance

By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK, Dec 23 (Reuters) -

Luigi Mangione, the man suspected of fatally gunning down

UnitedHealth Group ( UNH ) chief executive Brian Thompson on a

Manhattan street, is due to be arraigned on Monday on state

murder charges that brand him a terrorist.

At the hearing in New York state court in Manhattan, Mangione is

expected to be asked to enter a plea to the 11-count indictment,

which includes three murder charges, including murder as an act

of terrorism. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life

in prison without the possibility of parole.

Mangione's lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo declined to

comment.

It will be the second court appearance in New York for Mangione,

26, since he was arrested at a fast food restaurant in Altoona,

Pennsylvania, five days after the brazen, pre-dawn Dec. 4

killing of Thompson outside a hotel in midtown Manhattan where

his company was gathering for an investor conference.

Mangione also faces a four-count federal criminal complaint

charging him with stalking and killing Thompson. He has not yet

been asked to enter a plea to those charges. U.S. Magistrate

Judge Katharine Parker ordered Mangione detained at a Dec. 19

presentment on those charges.

The federal charges would make him eligible for the death

penalty, should the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan decide

to pursue it.

The separate federal and state cases will proceed in

parallel. The state case is currently expected to go to trial

first, federal prosecutors said.

Friedman Agnifilo said at the federal court hearing that the two

sets of charges appeared to be based on conflicting theories.

The state charges accuse Mangione of intending to "intimidate or

coerce a civilian population" and influence policy, while the

federal charges accuse him of stalking and killing an

individual.

Friedman Agnifilo said the two cases seemed completely

different, and she asked prosecutors to clarify whether both

would continue. Dominic Gentile, a federal prosecutor, said

Thursday's initial appearance was not the appropriate time to

address those legal arguments.

According to the federal criminal complaint, the police who

arrested Mangione found a notebook that contained several

handwritten pages that "express hostility towards the health

insurance industry and wealthy executives in particular."

A notebook entry dated Oct. 22 allegedly described an intent

to "wack" the chief executive of an insurance company at its

investor conference.

While the killing of Thompson has been broadly condemned,

Mangione has been feted as a folk hero by some Americans who

decry the steep costs of healthcare and the power held by

insurance companies to deny paying for some medical treatments.