By MICHAEL R. SISAK | Related Press
NEW YORK — Luigi Mangione pleaded not responsible Friday to a federal homicide cost within the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson as prosecutors formally declared their intent to hunt the loss of life penalty in opposition to him.
Mangione, 26, stood together with his legal professionals as he entered the plea, leaning ahead towards a microphone as U.S. District Decide Margaret Garnett requested him if understood the indictment and the fees in opposition to him.
Mangione mentioned, “yes.” Requested how he wished to plead, Mangione mentioned merely, “not guilty” and sat down.
Mangione’s arraignment for the killing final December attracted a number of dozen folks to the federal courthouse in Manhattan, together with former Military intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, who served about seven years in jail for stealing labeled diplomatic cables.
Mangione, who has been held in a federal jail in Brooklyn since his arrest, arrived to court docket in a mustard-colored jail go well with. He chatted with certainly one of his legal professionals, loss of life penalty counsel Avi Moskowitz, as they wished for the arraignment to start.
Late Thursday evening, federal prosecutors filed a required discover of their intent to hunt the loss of life penalty.
That got here weeks after U.S. Lawyer Basic Pam Bondi introduced that she could be directing federal prosecutors to hunt the loss of life penalty for what she referred to as “an act of political violence” and a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.”
It was the primary time the Justice Division mentioned it was pursuing capital punishment since President Donald Trump returned to workplace Jan. 20 with a vow to renew federal executions after they had been halted beneath the earlier administration.
Mangione’s legal professionals have argued that Bondi’s announcement was a “political stunt” that corrupted the grand jury course of and disadvantaged him of his constitutional proper to due course of. They’d sought to dam prosecutors from looking for the loss of life penalty.
Mangione’s federal indictment features a cost of homicide by means of use of a firearm, which carries the potential for the loss of life penalty. The indictment, which mirrors a prison grievance introduced after Mangione’s arrest additionally fees him with stalking and a gun offense.
Mangione, an Ivy League graduate from a distinguished Maryland actual property household, faces separate federal and state homicide fees after authorities say he gunned down Thompson, 50, outdoors a Manhattan lodge on Dec. 4 as the chief arrived for UnitedHealthcare’s annual investor convention.
The state homicide fees carry a most punishment of life in jail.
Surveillance video confirmed a masked gunman taking pictures Thompson from behind. Police say the phrases “delay,” “deny” and “depose” had been scrawled on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase generally used to explain how insurers keep away from paying claims.
The killing and ensuing five-day search resulting in Mangione’s arrest rattled the enterprise group, with some well being insurers deleting pictures of executives from their web sites and switching to on-line shareholder conferences. On the identical time, some medical insurance critics have rallied round Mangione as a stand-in for frustrations over protection denials and hefty medical payments.
Prosecutors have mentioned the 2 instances will proceed on parallel tracks, with the state case anticipated to go to trial first, however Mangione lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo mentioned his protection crew would search to have the federal case take precedent as a result of it includes the loss of life penalty.
Mangione was arrested Dec. 9 in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of New York Metropolis and whisked to Manhattan by airplane and helicopter.
Police mentioned Mangione had a 9mm handgun that matched the one used within the taking pictures and different gadgets together with a pocket book wherein they are saying he expressed hostility towards the medical insurance business and rich executives.
Among the many entries, prosecutors mentioned, was one from August 2024 that mentioned “the target is insurance” as a result of “it checks every box” and one from October that describes an intent to “wack” an insurance coverage firm CEO. UnitedHealthcare, the most important U.S. well being insurer, has mentioned Mangione was by no means a consumer.
Initially Printed: April 25, 2025 at 10:34 AM PDT
