Well yeah. There’s no federal murder charge. Stalking can still carry a life sentence but he’d likely get less than that.
But, settling the federal case can kill the state case if the federal case is done first.
If the state case gets underway before the federal case is resolved, there’s no federal double jeopardy law to kill the federal case so he could still be convicted in both.
It’s always going to be better to only have one case at the federal level than convictions at the state and federal level.
There’s no federal murder statute. The action was crossing state lines to kill him. Federally that’s stalking resulting in death. NY state law that’s murder. Same action, different charges.
Well not really. Stalking resulting in death wouldn’t necessarily mean they committed murder, would it? If you were stalking someone and they got hit by a car running from you, that’s not murder but it would be stalking resulting in death wouldn’t it?
There’s no federal murder charge. This is the closest equivalent. It’s fundamentally the same thing and carries the same penalties. You can literally think of it as the same charge just worded differently.
If I were the rich and powerful who are trying to make an example of him, I’d be pulling every lever of power to make sure the federal case is delayed and the state charges go through with his plea as evidence.
Well thats not a risk. The risk would be continuing on, which would open the door to the delays and the state charges.
Once he pleads guilty and it’s accepted, the case is done. Sentencing is post trial stuff. A delay in sentencing doesn’t affect getting the state case tossed on double jeopardy. Taking it to trial would allow the state case to continue.
https://www.npr.org/2026/08/14/nx-s1-5930700/mangione-federal-charges-guilty-plea
While he did plead guilty for the stalking charges, there is more to it than that.
Well yeah. There’s no federal murder charge. Stalking can still carry a life sentence but he’d likely get less than that.
But, settling the federal case can kill the state case if the federal case is done first.
If the state case gets underway before the federal case is resolved, there’s no federal double jeopardy law to kill the federal case so he could still be convicted in both.
It’s always going to be better to only have one case at the federal level than convictions at the state and federal level.
Double jeopardy only applies to the same crime doesn’t it? Stalking and murder aren’t the same crime.
New York has one of the strictest double jeopardy laws in the country. It applies to charges arising from the same action, not just the same charges.
It’s super easy to make a distinction between staking and murder as different actions.
Well the federal charge wasn’t just “stalking”.
It was “stalking resulting in death”.
There’s no federal murder statute. The action was crossing state lines to kill him. Federally that’s stalking resulting in death. NY state law that’s murder. Same action, different charges.
Well not really. Stalking resulting in death wouldn’t necessarily mean they committed murder, would it? If you were stalking someone and they got hit by a car running from you, that’s not murder but it would be stalking resulting in death wouldn’t it?
There’s no federal murder charge. This is the closest equivalent. It’s fundamentally the same thing and carries the same penalties. You can literally think of it as the same charge just worded differently.
Ok but the stalking resulting in death doesn’t necessarily involve murder, does it? It just means that they ended up dead, right?
It’s a big risk, in my opinion.
If I were the rich and powerful who are trying to make an example of him, I’d be pulling every lever of power to make sure the federal case is delayed and the state charges go through with his plea as evidence.
Well thats not a risk. The risk would be continuing on, which would open the door to the delays and the state charges.
Once he pleads guilty and it’s accepted, the case is done. Sentencing is post trial stuff. A delay in sentencing doesn’t affect getting the state case tossed on double jeopardy. Taking it to trial would allow the state case to continue.
TIL
Fair enough