Thread by @adamscochran

1/23

This is WILD.

A *HUGE* fuck-up in the Trump DoJ strategy means Luigi will:

* Not face the death penalty

* Technically NOT even face a formal "murder" charge AT ALL?!

All because Pam Bondi cared more about political theatrics than the law.

Let me explain:

https://twitter.com/428333/status/2017255342850167286

2/23

In the State of New York, the charge of murder is § 125.25.

It:

* Does NOT allow for a death penalty

* Does not allow life without parole

* Charges 15 - 25 years.

LWOP (life without parole) requires § 125.27, it requires one of these aggravating factors:

3/23

Last January, when Trump took power, he signed EO 14164, requiring the DoJ to pursue the death penalty where possible.

He specifically made a media push about the Luigi Mangione case.

4/23

Since New York didn't have a death penalty option, the DoJ would need to find a way to "federalize" the case.

But a crime CANNOT automatically be charged federally - it must have "a federal nexus" or violate a specific federal crime.

5/23

18 U.S.C. § 1111 is the federal "murder" charge, but it requires one of three criteria to make it federal:

1) It happened on a Federal property.

OR

2) The victim was a protected Federal person.

OR

3) It was done while committing ANOTHER federal crime.

6/23

So federal prosecutors decided they needed to find *another* federal crime to charge him with, rather than let the state do its job.

The problem?

Not a lot of other federal crimes applied here.

7/23

They used § 924(j) which is summarized as:

"Murder using a firearm during a crime of violence"

8/23

This meant the courts needed to prove that Luigi had done the murder, while ALREADY doing yet another crime of a violent nature.

(We're now 3 layers of unnecessary crime deep, because they wanted the death penalty)

9/23

The DoJ tried to argue that "interstate stalking" and "electronic stalking" were "violent crimes"

10/23

This would let them charge:

* Federal interstate stalking charges with a "results in death enhancement" (18 U.S.C. § 2261) [Life without parole]

AND

* Murder using a firearm during a crime of violence (18 U.S.C. § 924(j)) [Death Penalty charge]

11/23

The judge however points out that it is "absurd" that the DoJ is even asking the court to deem the "stalking" as crimes of violence.

The underlying crime (stalking) is separate from the enhancement (resulting in death)

And cannot be used to change that.

12/23

The judge notes the law is clear that "a violent crime" MUST be one in which physical force is used against another person.

And so Luigi CANNOT be charged with § 924(j)

15/23

This means that they were forced to DROP the following charges:

* Murder using a firearm during a crime of violence (18 U.S.C. § 924(j))

* Use of a firearm during a crime of violence (18 U.S.C. § 924(c))

16/23

This means the only crimes he will be tried for are:

* Interstate Stalking (18 U.S.C. § 2261A(1)(A))

* Electronic stalking (18 U.S.C. § 2261A(2)(A))

* Both with "Resulting in death" enhancement (§ 2261(b)(1))

They carry a MAX of life without parole.

17/23

Why is this a problem for the DoJ?

Murder is a high-bar to charge, but a clean crime to prove.

Stalking is a COMPLEX crime.

Enhancement "resulting in death" is an even more complex crime.

18/23

The stalking crime requires the DoJ prove:

* Two or more acts that establish a pattern

* The acts were taken with the intent kill, injure, harass, intimidate or surveil, not that that intent became established *during* the acts.

But it gets WORSE.

19/23

The "death resulting from" enhancement requires both "but-for causation" and "proximate cause"

So the defense COULD argue:

* He did stalk him earlier that day and was armed.

* He stopped stalking.

* He bumped into the victim later and did shoot him.

20/23

The court would likely find that to be outside of the scope of the "resulted in death" enhancement as it was NOT during the stalking.

It would normally be covered by just a normal murder charge.

BUT, the prosecution botched it and that was dropped...

21/23

Now admitting to a killing in court would normally be an insane defense strategy, BUT:

* The federal murder charge has no hook and can't be rebrought.

* The stalking charges become 5 years in prison max.

* New York then brings a state case for murder, but he pleas for 15 to life, with time served concurrently with the other charges.

22/23

Meaning if he admits to murder, to torpedo the botched Federal case he could lower his penalty from:

* Life without parole

to

* 15 to life:
--eligibility for parole after 15 years
--Time served pretrial counts
--Served concurrent with federal

So maybe 12 years total

23/23

They MAY still try and fight the case outright.

But because Trump's DoJ BOTCHED this case...

...Luigi could look at as little as **12 YEARS** even if he admitted to it....

Wild!