Luigi Mangione’s defense lawyers are crying foul to a judge about the Trump administration and Department of Justice over references to the accused assassin as left-wing and “anti-fascist” — accusing top government officials of violating his Fifth and Eighth Amendment rights to a fair trial by continuing to make statements about the case outside of the courtroom.

They took issue with a range of incidents, including a Fox News interview in which President Donald Trump alleged that “He shot someone in the back as clear as you’re looking at me.”

In another, Mangione’s lawyers wrote that “the White House Press Secretary referred to Mr. Mangione as a ‘left-wing assassin,'” and that a different White House official called their client a “self-described so-called anti-fascist.”

Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was shot and killed during an event in Utah on Sept. 10. (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune via Reuters)

“Writing messages on bullets is significant because it reveals the shooter’s intent even before a single round is fired,” Rice said. “For prosecutors, that kind of evidence is gold, it can demonstrate motive, premeditation and in some cases support additional charges, including hate crimes if the messaging targets a specific group.”

While the messages themselves may be evidence that prosecutors can use against shooters in court, Rice warned that copycats may increasingly be using murder to justify their political views.

“What we’re seeing in Dallas and in other recent cases is a disturbing trend, radicalized individuals who aren’t just committing violence, but trying to make a political or ideological statement through the very ammunition they use,” Rice told Fox News Digital. “That’s not random, it’s deliberate.”

Just about two weeks before Kirk’s murder in Utah, a gunman who identified as transgender opened fire on schoolchildren at a Catholic church in Minneapolis. That attacker wrote messages on his guns and magazines in an apparent reference to two other mass shooters who opened fire at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, and at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand.