Valuetainment - January 31, 2026


“This Sends A TERRIBLE Message" - Luigi Mangione Death Penalty BLOCKED In Controversial Court Ruling


Episode Stats

Length

12 minutes

Words per Minute

182.79599

Word Count

2,300

Sentence Count

196

Misogynist Sentences

4

Hate Speech Sentences

4


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

On this episode of the Business Development Podcast, we discuss a recent ruling by a federal judge in New York that prevents the death penalty from being pursued against Luigi Mangione for the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in 2024.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.880 I'm Kelly Kennedy. I've been called a hope dealer for leaders and with over 300 episodes of the Business Development Podcast, we'll guide you and we'll always be in your corner.
00:00:12.900 Follow the Business Development Podcast on Spotify and let's make 2026 your best year yet.
00:00:19.700 U.S. District Judge in New York ruled that federal prosecutors cannot seek the death penalty against Luigi Mangione for the 2024 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
00:00:35.080 Judge Margaret Garner dismissed the federal murder charge determining it was technically flawed because the underlying stalking charges did not meet the legal definition of a crime of violence.
00:00:48.340 Chris, for people that may disagree with this, what do you say to them?
00:00:52.480 I understand why you disagree and I hate the message that it sends and I think the prosecutor screwed up.
00:00:59.440 And did the judge have to make this ruling? No, but it was close to her having to make it. Why?
00:01:08.320 Because the way the law works is the reason you get the death penalty, remember, in the law, the death penalty is a very, very, very high standard, okay?
00:01:16.540 And you need to have violent felonies underneath. They said, yeah, stalking is violent.
00:01:22.340 That's not the way the stalking is perceived, especially when there's been no contact prior.
00:01:28.160 So I think they forced her hand a little bit, but I get why you don't like it because it sends a terrible message.
00:01:35.760 If this isn't murder, what is?
00:01:38.860 And I don't like it. I don't like this kid. I hate that he's Italian. I hate that people say that he's handsome.
00:01:46.560 I hate that he's raised all this money. I hate that people argue the other side of it.
00:01:50.680 To what you said about Don Lemon, to me, Mangione is that times a million in terms of the message.
00:01:56.900 Chris, can you comment on how New York State is more limited on what will get you the capital punishment in the first place?
00:02:03.320 When compared to Florida, when compared to Texas, it's federal. It's not state. It's federal.
00:02:08.040 If it were a state case, New York would still be tricky, but Florida, I mean, he would have been dead as soon as they caught him in Florida.
00:02:16.160 But federal law applies the same in all states.
00:02:20.900 Apparently there's judge, I sent you a picture of her, Margaret Garnett.
00:02:25.140 She was a liberal judge appointed by Biden.
00:02:30.800 And this just goes that everything's political at this point.
00:02:33.280 Everything is so politicized that the most unique person in this world, in this country at this point, is someone who's fair and balanced.
00:02:41.280 You know, Fox says they're fair and balanced.
00:02:43.020 Yeah, okay.
00:02:44.020 You know, CNN certainly is not.
00:02:46.000 MSNBC, which had to change their name to MSNOW, I believe.
00:02:49.460 We know where are people getting independent, non-political viewpoints at this point?
00:02:54.540 Here's just a latest example of a liberal judge that's just siding with, look, who was you appointed by, bottom right?
00:03:02.580 Joe Biden.
00:03:03.260 Joe Biden.
00:03:04.200 So they say that, you know, the Justice Department is weaponized or politicized.
00:03:10.400 Here's just another example.
00:03:11.480 It's pretty clear.
00:03:13.260 Biblical, I'm not the biggest Bible guy, but, you know, eye for an eye.
00:03:16.700 You kill somebody in cold blood?
00:03:18.940 It's you?
00:03:20.140 You're gone.
00:03:21.580 You're gone.
00:03:22.420 Death penalty.
00:03:23.120 That should be just point blank.
00:03:26.040 That's my opinion.
00:03:26.580 Sometimes they screw up the case, though.
00:03:27.960 Casey Anthony here in Florida.
00:03:29.680 Casey Anthony, exactly.
00:03:30.400 Very strong.
00:03:31.500 Overreached.
00:03:31.920 Went for the death penalty.
00:03:32.900 Yep.
00:03:34.080 She winds up getting acquitted.
00:03:35.560 Yep.
00:03:35.920 Why?
00:03:36.320 They went for too much.
00:03:37.180 I think these guys did the same thing.
00:03:38.560 They did it the wrong way, and they gave this judge an opportunity to make a ruling that I don't think will be overturned on appeal.
00:03:45.060 What do you think should happen to Mangione?
00:03:46.480 Forget about the fact that he's Italian just from a lawyer's standpoint.
00:03:50.020 Do you think he did it?
00:03:51.160 He's the worst.
00:03:51.800 Of course he did it.
00:03:52.520 Of course he did it, right?
00:03:53.360 He did it.
00:03:53.780 He wanted to do it.
00:03:54.940 He planned it.
00:03:55.700 Of course.
00:03:56.000 He did it for bad reason, and he's a bad guy.
00:03:57.940 But he's a hero on the left.
00:03:59.280 I know.
00:03:59.720 There's women lining up.
00:04:00.820 There's a story of some guy dressed up as a CIA agent.
00:04:03.400 No, today.
00:04:03.900 Well, that's a great thing.
00:04:04.900 I was going to do this.
00:04:05.120 But what do you think should happen to him, if not the death penalty?
00:04:08.280 Well, he's going to get convicted, and they're going to give him life in prison.
00:04:11.200 So then he gets to go sell books and be a hero to the left?
00:04:13.360 No, no, no.
00:04:14.180 No, hell no.
00:04:14.740 We're going to pay for him to be alive.
00:04:16.260 Well, you're going to pay for him to be alive, right?
00:04:18.040 That's life without parole.
00:04:18.940 What do you mean, no, he's not going to write a book?
00:04:20.420 No, because you have the Son of Sam law.
00:04:24.660 You can't make money off your crime.
00:04:26.900 Well, good.
00:04:27.400 Yeah, and I'm going to give you a great point.
00:04:29.080 David Berkowitz.
00:04:29.780 A 36-year-old named Mark Anderson, I will tell you where he's from, went all the way
00:04:34.640 cross-country to Metropolitan Detention Center.
00:04:37.820 He claimed he was an FBI agent.
00:04:39.520 He told the prison staff he had an order to release Lou Mangione.
00:04:44.040 They asked for his credentials.
00:04:45.860 Guess where his license went.
00:04:46.920 Guess where he's from.
00:04:47.640 You're never going to guess.
00:04:48.800 Minnesota.
00:04:49.580 Somalia.
00:04:50.200 Minnesota.
00:04:50.920 Same thing.
00:04:51.280 He's from Minnesota, and they searched his bag.
00:04:53.220 They found a barbecue fork and something that looked like a pizza cutter.
00:04:56.220 He went all the way there with a pizza cutter as if they were going to have pizza after he
00:05:00.580 got him out with the fork.
00:05:00.940 What was he trying to do, exactly?
00:05:02.240 Really?
00:05:02.800 You know what I mean?
00:05:03.340 To get him out of jail, to break him out of prison.
00:05:04.840 But he's nuts.
00:05:06.000 He's a crazy person.
00:05:07.200 You know?
00:05:07.620 So a crazy person from Minnesota?
00:05:09.940 No way.
00:05:10.560 You're never going to believe it.
00:05:11.260 Tom, do you have anything on this or no?
00:05:13.360 No.
00:05:13.980 So two days ago, I had a one-hour call with his three lawyers, Luigi's lawyers.
00:05:22.200 Luigi wrote me a two-page long letter that was written in August that I received two
00:05:31.980 days before Christmas, or even a day before Christmas, something like that.
00:05:37.500 And it was interesting because when he came out with the 27 points, one of the things he
00:05:44.520 wrote on the 27 points when my phone blew up is, Luigi Mangione is reading your next five
00:05:48.840 moves in prison.
00:05:49.440 And other inmates were reading your next five moves as well in jail.
00:05:52.840 So this is kind of how the exchange is going.
00:05:54.820 So I'm talking to the lawyer.
00:05:56.840 And yeah, that one right there.
00:05:58.820 I think it was 0.7 or 8 or 9 or one of them.
00:06:01.140 There you go, 0.7.
00:06:02.140 Your next five moves.
00:06:02.920 Yeah.
00:06:03.500 So to me, you know what I was asking the lawyers?
00:06:08.600 And who knows?
00:06:09.100 Maybe we'll do something together to go even deeper.
00:06:11.000 Because one of the lawyers that's there, she's also a content creator.
00:06:16.160 And she gets a lot of eyeballs.
00:06:17.300 She's with Midas Touch, and she does a very good job.
00:06:20.380 She's a talent.
00:06:21.780 And obviously, to be a lawyer for someone like this, you have to be very, very good at
00:06:25.560 what you do.
00:06:26.420 All I want to know is, how does this happen?
00:06:29.920 How do you go from a guy that has a trajectory of getting to where he could have gone in life,
00:06:36.840 being a good citizen, make good money, create jobs, get married, have kids, do all the stuff
00:06:41.960 that he wants to do, to all of a sudden get to this point?
00:06:45.880 I want to know where this led to this.
00:06:49.520 So, because if we don't, how many other Luigis are there that we have to know that if we don't
00:06:56.920 see patterns, we can't prevent, right?
00:06:59.900 When I'm talking to these lawyers, I'm telling them how I was, at 18 years old, if you judged
00:07:05.580 me on where I was going to be in life, you would have never said, I'm going to be here,
00:07:08.860 ever.
00:07:09.780 None of my friends would have ever said, I'm going to be here.
00:07:13.300 Someone got a hold of me.
00:07:15.300 Whether it was a couple of my drill sergeants, whether it was Drill Sergeant Green, or Drill
00:07:20.240 Sergeant Pirtle, or First Sergeant Ward, or Lieutenant Colonel Peacock, or Lieutenant
00:07:25.440 Off, or Sergeant Braxton, or all of these guys, these friendships, the influences, the
00:07:31.940 Pastor Dudley Rutherford, the Rich Dollies, these men who got a hold of you, who said,
00:07:37.180 hey, you can do better, the Brian Heflin, the Cisco Davises, these are men who get a
00:07:42.160 hold of a young man who doesn't have a sense of direction to say, what are you doing?
00:07:46.300 And flip it also on the other side.
00:07:48.320 You know what my concern, the same thing when I brought up the Don Lemon, and you said you're
00:07:51.820 more here than you're on the Don Lemon side?
00:07:54.720 Dude, we got to prevent this thing before he gets to the next level.
00:07:59.200 20 of us went to watch Joker when he came out.
00:08:01.400 I'm a big Joaquin Phoenix guy, and I want to watch the movie.
00:08:04.740 43 minutes into the movie, I look at Jen, I said, there's no way I can watch this movie.
00:08:08.860 There's no way I can watch this movie.
00:08:10.440 This is horrible.
00:08:12.700 This movie is inspiring you to go kill the billionaire.
00:08:17.260 Yep.
00:08:17.940 That's the movie.
00:08:19.480 You don't think five kids are going to say, fuck me, you know, let me go kill them and
00:08:24.420 F these guys.
00:08:25.340 And you don't think, all you need is five kids to watch Joker.
00:08:28.620 You don't think these movies are going to have that kind of an impact.
00:08:31.400 And how big of a movie was it?
00:08:32.960 Of course, Joaquin Phoenix crushed it in the movie.
00:08:35.420 Of course.
00:08:36.240 And who was the bad guy?
00:08:37.620 Was it Robert De Niro?
00:08:38.780 Who was the guy that he killed?
00:08:40.180 Robert De Niro was the late night host.
00:08:41.560 Yeah.
00:08:41.860 And so you watch this and you say, how does this happen?
00:08:45.100 I'm interested in what gets somebody to that point?
00:08:49.780 And what can we do to prevent that from happening at a large scale?
00:08:54.660 Guy does a Zoom with me yesterday.
00:08:58.120 He said something very interesting.
00:09:00.380 22, 23-year-old content creator.
00:09:02.840 Very talented.
00:09:04.340 He says, you know what I miss?
00:09:06.500 I said, what do you miss?
00:09:08.400 He says, for seven or eight years when I was a young boy, I watched every one of your
00:09:13.220 Motivation Monday videos in your car.
00:09:15.040 I watched every one of your videos about what it is to be a young man or this or content
00:09:19.420 creator and all this other stuff.
00:09:20.680 He says, America doesn't have a, you know, people that they watch on how plays a role of
00:09:27.240 a father.
00:09:28.120 He says, a lot of young men need that messaging today in a big way.
00:09:32.540 Right before jumping on here, we're talking, Chris and I are talking about your son and
00:09:38.200 you know, I'm not going to say publicly, but what decisions he's making, what he wants
00:09:41.340 to do with his career.
00:09:42.360 Good looking guy.
00:09:43.440 You know, he's doing what he's doing and family, the conversation.
00:09:46.540 There's nothing like family, but there's also nothing like influencing someone else that's
00:09:53.600 maybe not your family to prevent them to do something dumb.
00:09:57.480 I'm willing to bet the guy was this close of just being a regular guy.
00:10:01.700 You would have met, you would have never thought about him.
00:10:03.400 And I'm willing to bet there are tens of thousands of Luigi Mangione's that are this
00:10:08.100 close to do something stupid, this close.
00:10:11.020 And if we don't find a way to get ahold of these guys, we're going to have a bunch of
00:10:15.520 these cases happening, bunch of these cases happening.
00:10:18.040 So it's interesting.
00:10:19.240 They chose to go this route, but again, we'll follow this case a little bit closer.
00:10:22.820 There's a game coming up called, right?
00:10:25.660 And Seattle is going up against New England Patriots.
00:10:30.180 And it's so funny because we can go through a whole different conversation with New England
00:10:34.800 with Bill Belichick.
00:10:35.900 Maybe we'll do that all the way at the end because I'm sure we all have some opinions
00:10:39.060 on Bill Belichick not making it into the Hall of Fame.
00:10:42.240 Tom Brady said, if I have to go come back and play with only one coach, I'm not picking
00:10:47.120 anybody else but Bill Belichick.
00:10:48.480 And the guy didn't make it.
00:10:49.620 And three other coaches were first ballot Hall of Famers, but this guy didn't.
00:10:52.820 But anyways, Patriots, Seattle Seahawks, while this is happening, you're watching it.
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