Could Luigi Mangione, an Ivy League murder suspect, potentially face federal charges?

Luigi Mangione, who is suspected of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last week, may face federal charges, and it is "fair to be concerned" that Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg may mishandle this case, former prosecutors told Planet Chronicle Digital.

On Monday morning, Mangione was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after being recognized by a McDonald's patron from wanted posters following a five-day manhunt.

On Tuesday, Mangione declined to relinquish his right to an extradition hearing in a Pennsylvania court, and his lawyer stated that he plans to submit a writ of habeas corpus to challenge Mangione's detention. Bragg and Blair County District Attorney Peter Weeks are attempting to secure the 26-year-old Ivy League graduate's transfer to New York.

According to James Trusty, a former prosecutor in Maryland who served for 27 years, there is no clear hook for a federal murder prosecution based on the available information.

Upon Mangione's arrest, evidence for potential federal charges could be found on his seized laptop, as Trusty stated.

According to Trusty, federal charges may be filed for murder if it is linked to organized crime, drug trafficking, or a hate crime, which has a more specific definition than simply hating a specific group.

According to a criminal complaint obtained by Planet Chronicle Digital, members of the Altoona Police Department discovered a "black 3D-printed pistol and a black silencer." It is illegal to possess such a "ghost gun," which is an unserialized weapon that cannot be traced, former Joint Terrorism Task Force head and Port Authority Chief Security Officer John Ryan informed Planet Chronicle Digital.

A sentence for a charge of sentencing for such a charge would likely be shorter than a murder charge at a state level, Trusty said, with a possible sentence of just a year behind bars.

Trusty stated that if a "ghost gun" case were to become a separate federal case, it could be used as a "safety net" to ensure that something positive would come out of the prosecution.

In a Monday National Review article, Andrew McCarthy expressed his doubts about Bragg pursuing the case against Mangione.

Can Alvin Bragg, a progressive prosecutor who views the streets of New York as if they were from Howard Zinn's revisionist American history textbook, be trusted to prosecute a radical leftist for carrying out a direct action against a capitalist oppressor? McCarthy wrote.

McCarthy, a former prosecutor, wrote that it would not surprise him if President-elect Trump's Justice Department nominees and the State Department took a hard look at the Travel Act to remove the case from Bragg's hands.

A conviction for a federal charge may result in a death sentence; New York abolished capital punishment in 2004.

Even if Mangione didn't act alone, there would need to be evidence that he was part of a group that committed crimes for the Travel Act to apply, as Trusty stated that this outcome was highly unlikely.

""Even someone who helped in an active conspiratorial role with the Mafia, MS-13, or Tren de Aragua does not create a federal hook," Trusty stated."

If Thompson had been murdered on federal property, Mangione could have been charged with murder by federal authorities, but that did not happen.

McCarthy's misgivings about Bragg's potential handling of Mangione's case are understandable, according to Trusty.

"The charging of Daniel Penny 11 days after the event was a bad sign that Bragg was influenced by political voices and did not conduct a thorough investigation to determine the facts and a just result."

""Another bad sign is his unprincipled prosecution of President Trump after the [State Department walked away from a Michael Cohen-led case], which raises concerns about his ability to handle this case professionally and without allowing politics to influence his decision-making process," he said."