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.

  • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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    18 hours ago

    I’ll defend it:

    He traveled to murder a guy he never met before after stalking him online, carved words from a manifesto into bullet casings, engineered a 3D printable unregistered firearm, fled the scene of the crime with enough cash to live off of for years, and openly denies any wrongdoing by pleading innocent. He is absolutely likely to try it again, or perhaps worse, if released.

    If the death penalty exists, and honestly I don’t think it should, then it should apply fairly and treat all human life equally.

    • hdnsmbt@lemmy.world
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      12 hours ago

      If the death penalty exists, and honestly I don’t think it should, then it should apply fairly and treat all human life equally.

      So all premeditated murder should be punished by death? What do you mean when you say all human life should be treated equally?

      • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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        9 hours ago

        If any are persecuted with the death penalty as an option then it should apply equally and fairly.

        You shouldn’t be able to dodge sentences because you are the tankei/anarchist-equivalent to Markiplier internet celebrity status.

        • Batman@sopuli.xyz
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          7 hours ago

          That will run into some issues in the long run. If one is willing to carry out a death penalty, they themselves have now murdered and should be subjected to the same fate. If not, then anyone who has murdered a murderer, should be given the rights the executioners get, to avoid those penalties. No issue is cut and dry or black and white. And absolutely, we should be well past death penalties.

            • Batman@sopuli.xyz
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              4 hours ago

              No, anyone who is willing to kill another human, signs up to do so, and is part of a mob who does, is in the same boat.

                  • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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                    3 hours ago

                    Listen, you argued that the death sentence shouldn’t exist or that every executioner should be given trial.

                    Before that, I argued that the death sentence shouldn’t exist or that celebrities shouldn’t be able to escape charges.

                    If anything, I think you’re the one who needs to sober up, kid.

    • barnaclebutt@lemmy.world
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      14 hours ago

      Welcome to down votes, where you fail to see that they are being extra hard on him because he shot one of the surface dwellers. The difference is his alleged motivations which were to kill someone that has been actively engaging in spreading human misery for profit. In a practical sense, he allegedly killed a mass murderer that was for some reason never charged with a crime.

    • Naevermix@lemmy.world
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      14 hours ago

      I mean, sure he went through a lot of effort, but I don’t think we should hold that against him.

      After all, US soldiers goes through a lot of effort to kill people they’ve never met before.

      • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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        9 hours ago

        All that effort is literally the criteria for murder in the third degree. It’s a worse crime than a crime of passion or negligence.

    • Nate Cox@programming.dev
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      18 hours ago

      He is currently innocent of all of those charges.

      We don’t get to pick and choose when innocent before proven guilty gets applied. Openly stating that they’re seeking the death penalty before he’s even been indicted is weird and wrong.

      • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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        18 hours ago

        Nobody is talking about taking him out back and shooting him. They’re discussing if the maximum punishment for the crime if and when found guilty should include death.

        • Nate Cox@programming.dev
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          17 hours ago

          No, they’re not.

          They’re not discussing what the appropriate penalties should be—which, by the way, is typically done at the end of a trial during the sentencing phase, after all evidence has been presented and a guilty verdict has been delivered, because punishment is supposed to be reflective of the evidence presented—they’re saying that they’ve already decided that the target penalty is death.

          That’s a clear nod that they want to make an example, a concept divorced from justice.

        • chingadera@lemmy.world
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          16 hours ago

          Well this case absolutely looks like any other murder charge doesn’t it? And to touch on your other comment, it’s just as fair for everyone. The search for the suspect was like any other, the treatment with the media was like any other, and the federal government is holding back from intervening in a state case to poison the already tainted public before a jury can be formed just like any other case. Right?

          Nothing has been proven, and there is no defense for how this person is being treated even IF he did do what is alleged. This country was founded on this principle.

    • justsomeguy@lemmy.world
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      17 hours ago

      I remember back in the day in history class we’d discuss if murdering a tyrant is morally wrong and how it should be treated by the law. The class pretty much agreed if you 360 quick tomahawk someone who causes millions of deaths it’s fair game.

    • chonkyninja@lemmy.world
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      16 hours ago

      In what world does someone on the run carry a fuck load of cash, versus stashing it at a destination? Also you need to read the police reports, they fucked up big time, they had to search his backpack 3 fucking times before finding the supposed murder weapon, a back pack, 3 times. Think about that. Oh yeah and the third time was out of site of all the body and stores cameras.

    • Deceptichum@quokk.au
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      18 hours ago

      There is nothing fair about applying the death penalty for a man acting in defence of his country. That shit should be reserved for school shooters or republicans.

    • axh@lemmy.world
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      18 hours ago

      He is absolutely likely to try it again, or perhaps worse, if released.

      That would justify the life penalty (if proven), it exists for a reason.

    • blakenong@lemmings.world
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      15 hours ago

      It most of that is them saying it. And they lie all the time. I don’t believe much of it, and I think I need more untampered evidence showing it was him. I’m rooting for the innocent scapegoat.