Luigi Mangione pleaded not responsible to federal homicide and stalking costs at his arraignment Friday in Manhattan federal court docket. He’s accused within the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York Metropolis.
The homicide cost is eligible for the loss of life penalty, which Legal professional Common Pam Bondi stated prosecutors will search in Mangione’s federal trial, which is prone to begin in 2026.
Luigi Mangione pleads not responsible in NYC federal homicide case
Mangione’s court docket look drew a crowd of onlookers to the courthouse in Decrease Manhattan.
Federal prosecutors indicted him final week on two counts of stalking, a firearm offense and homicide by way of the usage of a firearm in Thompson’s 2024 capturing loss of life.
Mangione, 26, wore a beige jail uniform as he entered his plea Friday. He appeared clean-shaven and calm when he stood together with his legal professionals and leaned ahead to a microphone as U.S. District Choose Margaret Garnett requested if he understood the indictment and costs towards him.
Mangione stated, “yes.” When requested how he wished to plead, he stated, “not guilty” and sat down.
The pleas weren’t sudden, since Mangione additionally pleaded not responsible to state costs he faces in New York and Pennsylvania.
Mangione’s lawyer, Karen Agnifilo, requested that the federal case be tried first, since prosecutors are looking for the loss of life penalty.
The choose stated she hopes to set a trial date through the subsequent federal court docket convention on Dec. 5.
Mangione’s lawyer says prosecutors eavesdropped on non-public telephone name
After Mangione’s arraignment, Agnifilo stated the Manhattan District Legal professional’s Workplace advised her it was inadvertently “eavesdropping” on a recorded telephone name between her and Mangione.
Agnifilo stated the recording was despatched to them by federal prosecutors and that the DA’s workplace stopped listening as quickly as they realized what it was.
Federal prosecutors responded in court docket saying that whereas jail telephone calls are recorded, this was the primary they had been listening to of the declare.
The choose gave prosecutors one week to elucidate the extent of the error and the way they plan to stop it from taking place once more.
Earlier than the arraignment, Mangione’s legal professionals launched pictures of his handwritten logs, which they stated mark every of the roughly 15 letters he receives day by day in jail.
Pam Bondi, DOJ search federal loss of life penalty for Mangione
Mangione’s arraignment got here a day after the U.S. Division of Justice formally advised the court docket it intends to hunt the loss of life penalty within the case.
Federal prosecutors say Mangione poses a future hazard, alleging within the newest court docket submitting that he supposed to “target an entire industry and rally opposition to that industry by engaging in lethal violence.”
In addition they say he took steps to dodge regulation enforcement, flee New York Metropolis after the homicide and cross state traces whereas armed with a privately manufactured gun and silencer.
U.S. Legal professional Common Pam Bondi beforehand stated prosecutors would search the loss of life penalty, marking the primary time since President Trump vowed to renew federal executions when he took workplace in January.
Mangione’s attorneys have filed motions asking for the loss of life penalty choice to be eliminated, saying the federal government “intends to kill Mr. Mangione as a political stunt.”
Civil and legal legal professional Donte Mills defined the challenges in a loss of life penalty case.
“You have an additional burden, you have to prove intent. Intent that he intended to rile up the community or make people act as he did, make people commit murders against people in the health care industry. You have to prove that he intended this to be more than the killing of one person, and it’s really hard to prove what was in someone’s mind,” Mills stated.
UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson killed in NYC
The 26-year-old is accused of ambushing Thompson, a husband and father of two, outdoors a midtown resort on Dec. 4, 2024. Investigators stated Thompson was on his strategy to an traders convention when he was shot within the again on the sidewalk.
The manhunt for his killer led police by way of Central Park to a hostel on the Higher West Facet and ultimately to a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
Mangione has pleaded not responsible to state homicide and terrorism costs in New York, in addition to forgery and weapons costs in Pennsylvania.
contributed to this report.
