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In December, Luigi Mangione was arrested for shooting health insurance executive Brian Thompson. Last week, Trump’s attorney general, Pam Bondi, announced that she was seeking the death penalty. It’s a highly unusual announcement, since Mangione hasn’t even been indicted yet on a federal level. (He has been indicted in Manhattan.) By intervening in this high-profile case, the Trump administration has made clear that it believes that CEOs are especially important people whose deaths need to be swiftly and mercilessly avenged.

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[-] ComradeRachel 151 points 2 months ago

I think the death penalty being on the table would increase the likelihood of the jury finding a reasonable doubt or jury nullification. It would only hurt the prosecution imo.

[-] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 122 points 2 months ago

OR it's going to prejudice the jury against him, like it usually does.

When capital punishment is on the table, only people who are in favor of it are selected for the jury, and people who are in favor of state murder are MUCH more likely to return a guilty verdict than people who aren't.

That's one of hundreds of reasons why civilized legal systems don't murder prisoners anymore.

[-] WoodScientist@sh.itjust.works 15 points 2 months ago

Yup. One of the main reasons people oppose the death penalty is because of the proven record of innocent people receiving death sentences. Approximately 4% of people who receive death sentences are actually innocent. We execute many innocent people in this country. The system absolutely does not operate on the principle of "it is better for 1000 guilty to go free than for one innocent to be unjustly punished."

Many oppose the death penalty because they realize just how poor our justice system is at actually determining guilt and innocence. Those who assume it is near-infallible will be much more likely to support the death penalty. So if you screen out those opposed to death sentences, you also screen out people who are more skeptical of the criminal justice system overall.

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[-] neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com 27 points 2 months ago

I kind of agree, if I were in the jury, it would make me think twice about finding them guilty since I would feel like I have someone’s death on my hands.

[-] Chocobofangirl@lemmy.world 11 points 2 months ago

Yeah but you'd be automatically excluded from jury duty if you admitted that. It's like nullification.

[-] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 23 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Why does it feel like the trump administration would use Mangione's acquittal by jury as a reason to try to attack and do away with the 6th Amendment (trial by jury amendment)?

[-] EmptySlime 8 points 2 months ago

Luckily it would be really hard for them to actually get rid of it. I wouldn't put it past them to try to start doing summary executions or just illegally trying to detain people without trial or whatever but there's 0 chance they get the support to actually remove that amendment.

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[-] Chozo@fedia.io 19 points 2 months ago

Yep, if you set the bar extraordinarily high, then you have to jump extraordinarily high. Bondi's likely doing more harm than good for her cause.

[-] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 48 points 2 months ago

Assuming his trial is carried out normally and isn't a sham

[-] char_stats@lemm.ee 12 points 2 months ago

This ☝️

[-] njm1314@lemmy.world 13 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

There's no way this jury is going to be allowed to find him innocent much less jury nullification. If they can't be bribed they'll be threatened.

[-] takeda@lemm.ee 10 points 2 months ago

My worry is that trump is thinking of sending him to CECOT.

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[-] Boddhisatva@lemmy.world 116 points 2 months ago

None of this, of course, is to say that what Mangione did was justifiable or wise.

Um, fuck you? He hasn't been convicted and the author's assumption here, that Mangione is guilty of what he has been accused of, is part of the fucking problem.

[-] conditional_soup@lemm.ee 17 points 2 months ago

Damn, when did Jacobin get soft?

[-] Freshparsnip@lemm.ee 69 points 2 months ago
[-] LordCrom@lemmy.world 20 points 2 months ago

Well, we have a convicted felon and rapist as president already.

[-] Freshparsnip@lemm.ee 15 points 2 months ago

Exactly. They've set a precedent that running for office gets you out of any consequences. I really want to see what happens if Mangione runs for congress

[-] Gudl@feddit.org 42 points 2 months ago
[-] imetators@lemm.ee 12 points 2 months ago

Californians would die of heart attack after eating all of them

[-] whiskeytango@lemm.ee 17 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

At least then they could afford to have a heart attack. Heck, have two

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[-] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 29 points 2 months ago

This guy killed a patrician and now that class has totally seized controlled of government.

[-] Spider2013@lemmy.dbzer0.com 24 points 2 months ago
[-] FenderStratocaster@lemmy.world 21 points 2 months ago
[-] rumba@lemmy.zip 10 points 2 months ago

we're not real big on justice at the moment...

[-] Gates9@sh.itjust.works 29 points 2 months ago
[-] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 28 points 2 months ago

He'd became a martyr. The best chance way the ruling class could handle this is letting him go on the condition that he denies every publicity possible for a given years, even "just" imprisonment would communicate "we fear guys like this".

[-] ameancow@lemmy.world 17 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

It's very naive of people to think that in an authoritarian dictatorship controlled by the world's wealthiest people, that there won't be a LOT of unjust deaths in the coming years.

I will be positively shocked if they don't make a very public example of Mangione. It's going to hurt and that's what they want. They want to kill him in front of us so we feel pain. Then they're going to do it again and again with other people whom we don't want to see die. Remember that. This is what happens.

This is what 45% of eligible voters thought would never happen so they stayed home. Too much trouble. Too hard to figure out the truth (by googling for 30 seconds). Too many excuses to not rock the boat, and now the boat is rocking us all out.

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[-] smokingpistol@lemm.ee 26 points 2 months ago

He’s a real true America hero and a patriot! Que Viva Luigi!

[-] Lolseas@lemmy.world 21 points 2 months ago

So what are the odds of jury nullification on this case?

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[-] Freefall@lemmy.world 13 points 2 months ago

Yessss....show us you fear.....we feed on it.

[-] bitjunkie@lemmy.world 12 points 2 months ago

We live in a post-defensibility society.

[-] SparroHawc@lemm.ee 12 points 2 months ago

Sigh. Yet another article assuming Mangione's guilt. Ben Burgis didn't even bother to say 'allegedly' anywhere.

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this post was submitted on 16 Apr 2025
1052 points (100.0% liked)

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