You can’t open a newspaper or go to a social media homepage right now without reading about Luigi Mangione, the young man accused of shooting former United Health Care CEO Brian Thompson. The Manhattan district attorney’s office charged Luigi Mangione with eleven charges, including first degree murder in furtherance of terrorism. Karen Friedman Angifilo, a former Manhattan district attorney who became a criminal defense attorney, has agreed to represent Mangione in his defense against the Manhattan district attorney’s charges.
If you ask the media, the evidence against Mangione is overwhelming. Since Friedman Angifilo agreed to represent Mangione, many people have asked me why she would take the case. “What defense attorney in their right mind would want to represent a murderer?” “With all that evidence, isn’t she setting herself up to lose?” “What is the point of even having a defense attorney if a jury is just going to convict him anyway?”
Personally, I have a great deal of respect for Friedman Angifilo for taking this case. A criminal defense attorney’s job is not to judge their client. It is the job of criminal defense attorneys to ensure each and every person receives the best representation possible by protecting all of their clients’ constitutional rights. The American criminal-legal system is based on the idea that everyone, even people who are guilty, have rights that the government cannot take away. Without criminal defense attorneys, accused individuals would have no idea if government lawyers were trying to pull a fast one and try to do something they are not allowed to do. A society should be judged not just by how it treats its best citizens, but how it treats its most downtrodden, or even immoral citizens too. Karen Friedman Angifilo is working to ensure that everyone in our country, no matter who they are, is treated fairly and justly. That is true even if sometimes, as will likely be the outcome in this case, fairly and justly means life in prison.
As for the evidence facing Mangione, it does not look good for him. But criminal defense attorneys are used to that. Prosecutors know that they have the burden of proving cases beyond a reasonable doubt at trial. That means they do not file charges unless they have a strong belief that they can prove them beyond a reasonable doubt. Because defense attorneys are used to fighting uphill battles, a good one will have a few tricks up their sleeve even if things look bleak.
In Mangione’s case, Friedman Angifilo is likely thinking about an insanity defense. If M’s trial was going to happen in a Michigan state court, Friedman Angifilo would have two options: challenging competency and criminal responsibility. Competency measures an accused person’s ability to assist their defense attorney during trial. If a criminal defense attorney asks their client “what time did you return home that night?” and the client’s response is “purple,” the client will not be of much help putting on a defense. When an accused person is found incompetent by a forensic psychiatrist, their case cannot proceed to trial unless the person’s competency can be regained by working with a therapist.
The second option would be to challenge criminal responsibility. When an accused person is found by a forensic psychiatrist to not be criminally responsible, it means that the accused person was not mentally stable enough to understand the consequences of their actions at the time they committed the crime. This finding can result in a plea of Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGRI). In Michigan, an NGRI plea does not result in probation, jail, or prison. This is because the prosecution and defense agree that without an understanding of the consequence of their actions, the accused should not face criminal punishment. Instead, the accused is committed to a mental health rehabilitation institution with the goal of helping them regain their mental health and capabilities. While the accused does not get to return to their life exactly as it was, this alternative is certainly is preferable to a potential sentence of life without parole.
The right defense attorney can make all the difference in a high-profile criminal case. Where some attorneys would not take the case or quickly throw in the towel, a good lawyer can present options to people in as positions as bad as Luigi Mangione’s appears to be.