A poll found 41 percent of adults under 30 consider the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson acceptable, more than the 40 percent in that demographic who consider it unacceptable.
Anger over health insurance companies has been in the spotlight after Thompson was fatally shot Dec. 4 in New York City.
Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old, was arrested last week in Pennsylvania and faces charges in Thompson’s killing.
The survey from Emerson College Polling found 68 percent of all respondents found the actions of the person who shot and killed Thompson unacceptable.
But a startling 24 percent of those aged 18-29 found it “somewhat acceptable,” and 17 percent of that group found it completely acceptable.
Since Thompson was shot, first in the back and then again as he fell to the ground, a number of social media posts from people saying they do not have sympathy for his death have gained popularity.
Spencer Kimball, the executive director of Emerson College Polling, said 22 percent of Democrats said they found the killing acceptable, compared to 16 percent of independents and 12 percent of Republicans. He said the overall findings underscored “shifting societal attitudes among the youngest electorate and within party lines.”
Mangione was arrested Dec. 9 in Altoona, Pa., following a tip from a McDonald’s employee. Law enforcement has not publicly disclosed his suspected motive, if one is known.
Mangione is slated to be appear in court in Pennsylvania on Thursday for gun charges he faces in the state. Another proceeding will take place Dec. 30; New York is attempting to extradite the Maryland native to the Empire State, where he faces a murder charge, according to court records.
The survey was conducted Dec. 11-13 among 1,000 registered voters. The margin of error was 3 percentage points.
Jury nullification will be a big issue.
I wouldn’t convict the guy of anything more than having an unlicensed gun.
Not going to happen. Jurors get very specific instructions to consider the charges, exactly what actions meet the criteria and are told to only consider the merit of the charges. It’s all very solemn and the vast majority of people take it seriously. They’ll find him guilty. Unless the BS terrorism charges blow it for the prosecution. We can hope.
If you believe in jury nullification you would also lie your ass off in voir dire.
They’ll find him guilty because they’ll tamper with the juries. You can guarantee that. Be it through bribery or threats that jury is going to know they better convict.
I tried to get a grand jury to nullify drug charges once. It was extremely depressing. Everyone was like “but we have to follow the rules. They told us.”
Grand jury is simple majority. Everyone else voted to indict. Even the juror that was sleeping, snores and all, indicted on every charge.
No way. No way I’m letting a juror sleep through the process and then get to vote. I would have made such a huge deal about that shit. Fuck that dude.
Every time I brought anything up, like the guy sleeping, the injustice of sending people to jail for marijuana, the fact that they were asking us to indict someone for like “intent to use a gun in a crime” when all the cop said was they found a gun in the house, most of the people on the jury were like “come on! Shut up! We just want to go home!”
On a grand jury the defense has no role. The prosecutors don’t really care so long as they’re getting their indictments.
I think about this whenever a cop isn’t indicted.
The prosecutors will find ways to exclude all jurors under the age of 65.