Manhattan prosecutors filed paperwork on Friday opposing Luigi Mangione's bid to dismiss his state murder case in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. In a filing to Justice Gregory Carro, the district attorney's office argued the New York prosecution can proceed under an exception to the state's double jeopardy law, because the federal stalking charges Mangione pleaded guilty to in August and the state murder charge address different harms. Prosecutors also asked that, if any charges are dismissed, the dismissal be without prejudice so the case could be refiled.

The development upends the expected sequence of one of the most closely watched criminal cases in America. Mangione pleaded guilty on August 14 to two federal stalking charges, admitting he traveled to New York with the intent to shoot Thompson, just weeks before his state trial was set to begin September 8. Within minutes of the plea hearing ending, his attorneys filed a dismissal motion in state court, according to RadarOnline, which reports prosecutors say the defense filed less than an hour after the federal proceeding concluded. The plea staved off a federal trial and immediately threw the state case into disarray.

The outcome could dramatically change Mangione's exposure. According to the New York Daily News, if the dismissal gambit succeeds, Mangione could get out of prison by age 60, or thereabouts, since the federal stalking charges carry between 24 to 30.5 years under sentencing guidelines, though Judge Margaret Garnett is not bound by them. Had he gone to trial in state court and lost, and then proceeded to a federal trial, he would have risked back-to-back life sentences. New York's double jeopardy law is more favorable to defendants than the federal double jeopardy clause, the Daily News reports, citing legal experts.

RadarOnline reports that in the October 9 filing, prosecutors accused the defense of exploiting the scheduling of the separate state and federal proceedings to manufacture a double jeopardy claim, alleging attorneys tried to manipulate the court calendar. Prosecutors denied their earlier courtroom remarks amounted to any concession that the strategy would succeed. Mangione himself raised the issue during a February outburst at a state hearing, saying, 'Same trial twice. One plus one equals two. Double jeopardy by any common sense definition,' as he was led out in handcuffs.

Justice Carro gave prosecutors an October 9 deadline to respond to the dismissal motion and set an October 30 deadline for the defense to reply, the Guardian reports. The state case returns to court on December 10, and ABC News reports the judge is expected to rule on the state trial that month. He still faces second-degree murder, weapons and forgery charges in state court; a first-degree murder charge was previously dismissed.