Luigi Mangione pleaded not responsible to federal homicide and stalking fees at his arraignment Friday in Manhattan federal courtroom. He’s accused within the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York Metropolis.
The homicide cost is eligible for the dying penalty, which Legal professional Normal Pam Bondi stated prosecutors will search in Mangione’s federal trial, which is more likely to begin in 2026.
Luigi Mangione pleads not responsible in NYC federal homicide case
Mangione’s courtroom 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 means of using a firearm in Thompson’s 2024 taking pictures dying.
Mangione, 26, wore a beige jail uniform as he entered his plea Friday. He appeared clean-shaven and calm when he stood along with his legal professionals and leaned ahead to a microphone as U.S. District Decide Margaret Garnett requested if he understood the indictment and fees towards him.
Mangione stated, “yes.” When requested how he wished to plead, he stated, “not guilty” and sat down.
The pleas weren’t surprising, since Mangione additionally pleaded not responsible to state fees he faces in New York and Pennsylvania.
Mangione’s lawyer, Karen Agnifilo, requested that the federal case be tried first, since prosecutors are in search of the dying penalty.
The decide stated she hopes to set a trial date in the course of the subsequent federal courtroom convention on Dec. 5.
Mangione’s lawyer says prosecutors eavesdropped on personal cellphone name
After Mangione’s arraignment, Agnifilo stated the Manhattan District Legal professional’s Workplace advised her it was inadvertently “eavesdropping” on a recorded cellphone 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 courtroom saying that whereas jail cellphone calls are recorded, this was the primary they have been listening to of the declare.
The decide gave prosecutors one week to elucidate the extent of the error and the way they plan to stop it from occurring 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 dying penalty for Mangione
Mangione’s arraignment got here a day after the U.S. Division of Justice formally advised the courtroom it intends to hunt the dying penalty within the case.
Federal prosecutors say Mangione poses a future hazard, alleging within the newest courtroom submitting that he meant 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 strains whereas armed with a privately manufactured gun and silencer.
U.S. Legal professional Normal Pam Bondi beforehand stated prosecutors would search the dying 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 dying penalty choice to be eliminated, saying the federal government “intends to kill Mr. Mangione as a political stunt.”
Civil and prison legal professional Donte Mills defined the challenges in a dying 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 lodge on Dec. 4, 2024. Investigators stated Thompson was on his option to an buyers convention when he was shot within the again on the sidewalk.
The manhunt for his killer led police by means 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 fees in New York, in addition to forgery and weapons fees in Pennsylvania.
Anna Schecter
contributed to this report.
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Elijah Westbrook
