NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers for Luigi Mangione argue that Attorney General Pam Bondi’s pursuit of the death penalty in the case involving the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson is compromised by her previous role as a lobbyist for a firm connected to the insurer’s parent company.

Before spearheading the Justice Department’s efforts to elevate Mangione’s federal case to a capital punishment proceeding, Bondi was a partner at Ballard Partners. Mangione’s legal team claims this background presents a “profound conflict of interest,” infringing upon Mangione’s right to due process. In a court document filed late Friday, they requested that the prosecution be barred from seeking the death penalty and that certain charges be dismissed. The court has scheduled a hearing for January 9.

According to Mangione’s attorneys, Bondi violated her commitment to adhere to ethical standards by involving herself in the death penalty decision and publicly suggesting Mangione’s execution. Prior to assuming office in February, she had pledged to recuse herself from matters involving Ballard clients for a year.

The defense further alleges that Bondi continues to benefit financially from her past tenure at Ballard Partners through a profit-sharing plan and a defined contribution scheme managed by the lobbying firm, which also serves UnitedHealth Group.

“The individual authorized to pursue the death penalty against Mangione has a financial interest in the case,” the lawyers assert. They argue that her conflict of interest warranted her recusal from any decision-making in this case.

Messages seeking comment were left for the Justice Department and Ballard Partners.

Bondi announced in April that she was directing Manhattan federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty, declaring even before Mangione was formally indicted that capital punishment was warranted for a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.”

Thompson, 50, was killed Dec. 4, 2024, as he walked to a Manhattan hotel for UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor conference. Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind. Police say “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.

Mangione, 27, the Ivy League-educated scion of a wealthy Maryland family, was arrested five days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of Manhattan. He has pleaded not guilty to federal and state murder charges. The state charges carry the possibility of life in prison. Neither trial has been scheduled.

Friday’s filing put the focus back on Mangione’s federal case a day after a marathon pretrial hearing ended in his fight to bar prosecutors in his state case from using certain evidence found during his arrest, such as a gun that police said matched the one used to kill Thompson and a notebook in which he purportedly described his intent to “wack” a health insurance executive. A ruling isn’t expected until May.

Mangione’s defense team, led by the husband-and-wife duo of Karen Friedman-Agnifilo and Marc Agnifilo, zeroed in on Bondi’s past lobbying work as they seek to convince U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett to rule out capital punishment, throw out some charges and exclude the same evidence they want suppressed from the state case.

In a September court filing, Mangione’s lawyers argued that Bondi’s announcement that she was ordering prosecutors to seek the death penalty — which she followed with Instagram posts and a TV appearance — showed the decision was “based on politics, not merit.” They also said her remarks tainted the grand jury process that resulted in his indictment a few weeks later.

Bondi’s statements and other official actions — including a highly choreographed perp walk that saw Mangione led up a Manhattan pier by armed officers, and the Trump administration’s flouting of established death penalty procedures — “have violated Mr. Mangione’s constitutional and statutory rights and have fatally prejudiced this death penalty case,” his lawyers said.

In a court filing last month, federal prosecutors argued that “pretrial publicity, even when intense, is not itself a constitutional defect.”

Rather than dismissing the case outright or barring the government from seeking the death penalty, prosecutors argued, the defense’s concerns can best be alleviated by carefully questioning prospective jurors about their knowledge of the case and ensuring Mangione’s rights are respected at trial.

“What the defendant recasts as a constitutional crisis is merely a repackaging of arguments” rejected in previous cases, prosecutors said. “None warrants dismissal of the indictment or categorical preclusion of a congressionally authorized punishment.”

Mangione’s lawyers said they want to investigate Bondi’s ties to Ballard and the firm’s relationship with UnitedHealth Group and will ask for various materials, including details of Bondi’s compensation from the firm, any direction she’s given Justice Department employees regarding the case or UnitedHealthcare, and sworn testimony from “all individuals with personal knowledge of the relevant matters.”