Before New York can put Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the killing of a health insurance executive on a Manhattan street, on trial for murder, it has to get him back in the state.
Mr. Mangione, 26, was arrested on Monday in Pennsylvania, where he faces gun and other charges. Shifting him to New York’s custody would require that he be extradited, a formal step that Mr. Mangione can challenge in the Pennsylvania courts. And he has indicated that he will be putting up a fight, one that could take weeks to resolve.
Here’s what to know about the extradition process.
What is interstate extradition?
The concept is nearly as old as the United States itself, and is specified in the Constitution. Article IV Section 2 says that if a person is charged with a crime in State A and flees to State B, State B is obliged to hand over the fugitive at State A’s request. The rule is meant to prevent people from avoiding justice simply by crossing a state line.
(The United States also has agreements with some — but not all — foreign countries providing for international extradition of fugitives.)
Mr. Mangione is accused of murdering Brian Thompson, the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, in midtown Manhattan last week. He’s facing the charge in Manhattan because that is where the crime occurred. But he was apprehended nearly 300 miles to the west in Altoona, Pa. At a hearing Tuesday afternoon, his lawyer said he would try to block the extradition of his client to New York.
How is extradition supposed to work?
To seek extradition, the governor of State A submits paperwork to the governor of State B, describing the crime and establishing that the person in question is in State B.
Extradition requests are common and usually straightforward. Many defendants do not bother to exercise their right to object, allowing the process to go speedily.
“In many cases, it’s such a done deal that people waive extradition, because the real fight is going to be once they’re back in what we call the demanding state,” said Jules Epstein, a professor of law at Temple University in Philadelphia.
Defendants who do object are entitled to an evidentiary hearing, in which local prosecutors present evidence showing that the defendant is in fact the person charged with a crime in the demanding state.
Mr. Mangione’s lawyer has indicated that he will request such a hearing.
Do states ever say no?
In theory, a governor could refuse to sign an extradition request from another state, but that basically never happens, Mr. Epstein said.
States do occasionally get into disputes, though, over when someone should be handed over. Peter Brill, a criminal defense lawyer in New York, said that if a person is facing serious charges like murder in two different states, each state may want to be the first to try the person.
“The local prosecutors are very upset about the people who are killed in their jurisdiction, and they want to bring justice for their local victims,” Mr. Brill said.
Mr. Mangione faces charges in Pennsylvania, including carrying a gun without a license and forgery. But the district attorney in Pennsylvania has said that the state plans to wait until after the New York case is concluded to try him on those charges.
That is typical in situations where one state’s charges are much more serious than another’s, Mr. Epstein said. He added that Pennsylvania officials may also be eager to rid themselves of the “incredible headache” of housing a suspect with expensive security requirements.
Another potential complication might arise over sharp differences between states over what is and is not a crime. With many states enacting stringent abortion bans since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, about a dozen governors have said they would not extradite abortion providers who faced criminal charges under those bans. But no such case has arisen yet.
What is Mr. Mangione likely to achieve?
Fighting extradition from Pennsylvania may delay the process by a few weeks, but it is not likely to pose a serious obstacle for New York prosecutors, legal experts said.
“I can’t think of a single extradition hearing that we contested that the defendant prevailed,” said Richard Settgast, a former public defender and professor of law at Penn State.
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