Multiple Department of Justice employees "may have violated" Luigi Mangione's right to a fair trial through public comments and social media posts, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday -- and it could end up swaying the judge to grant a defense motion to take the death penalty off the table.
And what exactly makes this one worse than others?
The victim being rich and powerful, unlike most murder victims?
The victim belonging to a group of people very lucrative to the powers that be?
The fact that your favorite authoritarian politicians and talking heads said so on tv?
The aggravating factor is not the identity of the victim but rather the intent of the murderer. There have already been two more murders inspired at least partially by the murder of Brian Thompson (at least to the extent that the killers also wrote messages on the shell casings). If the rule of law is to be preserved, then it must be made clear that those who try to use violence as a tool for extralegal social change will not succeed, and that they will be punished severely.
The problem with this line of thinking is that people like Brian Thompson are excused entirely. How much pain, suffering, and unnecessary death did Brian Thompson enable with his policies? And what recourse did his victims have?
Fix that problem, and attacks like this don’t happen in the first place.
Bro, we have a 2 tier justice system. This just makes it a little more just.
No significant social change has been acquired without violence, like it or not.
I’d personally argue that the motive is a huge mitigating factor in this case. Especially when you consider the hell that the insurance industry leeches put him and his family through.
IF it’s even him, that is.
I’m of the opinion that law doesn’t automatically equal justice and that justice is MUCH more important than law.
Which is why I consider illegal but justifiable actions against legally entrenched injustice much less egregious than that which is unjust but perfectly legal.