Is CEO murder suspect Luigi Mangione a terrorist? Why charges may 'send a message.'

When a New York grand jury indicted Luigi Mangione, the man accused of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson earlier this month, for murder as an act of terrorism, the move raised some experts' eyebrows.

Mangione, 26, was charged with one count of first-degree murder in furtherance of terrorism, two counts of second-degree murder, one of which was charged as an act of terrorism, and a slew of weapons charges. He also faced new federal charges in a Thursday afternoon court appearance.

The New York charges from a grand jury stem from "the brazen, targeted and premeditated shooting of Brian Thompson," Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said at a news conference earlier this week.

Bragg alleged the shooting "in its most basic terms, was a killing that was intended to evoke terror."

The first-degree charge is unusual in New York, legal experts have said, and may be hard to prove in court because it requires evidence about motive. But Mangione's alleged actions fit the terrorism statute, and the charge is important to send a message to the public that violence is not a solution to ideological disputes, argued Barbara McQuade, a Michigan Law professor and former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan.

"There are people out there treating this guy as a hero. I think it is important to send a message that he is not a hero. He is not just a murderer; he's a terrorist, allegedly," McQuade told USA TODAY on Thursday.

What does New York law say?

According to New York statutes, first-degree murder charges are reserved for murders that include certain aggravating factors, such as if the victim was a police officer or other similar official or if the victim was tortured. It can also be applied if the crime was "in furtherance of an act of terrorism."

The charge against Mangione is unorthodox, McQuade said, because the alleged crime doesn't fit into the usual boxes we imagine when we hear terrorism.

"When we think of terrorism, we think of a designated foreign terrorist organization like al-Qaeda or Hezbollah... or we think of the explosion of a building," she said.

Terrorism is defined under the statute as an act that aims to:

• Intimidate or coerce a civilian population

• Influence the policy of a unit of government by intimidation or coercion

• Or affect the conduct of a unit of government by murder, assassination or kidnapping

Why did prosecutors add terrorism to charges?

Mangione's alleged actions could fit into that statute, McQuade said, if the evidence shows that he tried to intimidate or coerce the population of the insurance industry, or perhaps aimed to influence government policy regarding insurance.

"I think they can make the case that the motive here was to make an example of someone who works in the insurance industry for their practices that harm consumers," she said.

In adding the terrorism element to the murder charges, Bragg has made his job harder because he'll have to prove not only that Mangione was the killer, as in a standard second-degree murder charge, but that the motivation for the killing makes it terrorism, McQuade and other experts said. It's not a "slam dunk," McQuade said.

"What the prosecutors have done now is they've taken a very straight-forward murder case and they've charged it as this very serious act of terrorism and I think they're going to have a very difficult time proving that," former federal prosecutor Duncan Levin told MSNBC.

Still, McQuade said Bragg is justified in adding the terrorism components, and prosecutors usually charge the highest charges they think they have the evidence to prove.

Bragg may have also considered the public reaction to Thompson's slaying in his decision to tack on terrorism, McQuade said. The shooting sparked wave of contempt for health insurance companies and the celebration of Mangione as a hero by some.

"(Bragg) wants to send a message of deterrence," she said. "One of the important theories of criminal justice is deterrence. It isn't just to punish wrongdoers. It isn't just to protect public safety from people who are dangerous. It is also to deter so that people look at this and say, 'Oh, this is a bad thing.'"

Other legal experts have said Mangione may have been "overcharged," which happens when a prosecutor files charges beyond what the evidence supports.

“This victim was shot in the back of the head, not the front of the head, on a quiet sidewalk, early in the morning, in the dark. It doesn’t appear from a defense attorney’s perspective that this was intended to be a terroristic type of murder,” criminal defense attorney Stacy Schneider told CNN.

Schneider told CNN that a criminal defense attorney could argue the public response to the shooting was "totally unpredictable."

Mangione waived his right to an extradition hearing on Thursday morning and was transported from Pennsylvania, where he was being held since his arrest, back to New York City to face new charges.

His defense attorney, former Manhattan prosecutor Karen Friedman Agnifilo, also said Mangione was "overcharged" and said she would fight the charges.

“She knows how to defend a case like this,” Levin told MSNBC of Friedman Agnifilo.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Details on terrorism charges against CEO murder suspect Luigi Mangione