Luigi Mangione’s lawyers have told a judge that Mangione plans to plead guilty to federal stalking charges in the killing of Minnesota-based UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Mangione’s lawyers made the disclosure on Friday during a hastily scheduled Manhattan federal court hearing, which is ongoing. He could still change his mind.
But Mangioni himself answered yes if that was what he was agreeing to in court Friday.
The plea won’t be official until Mangione confirms his decision to the judge and the judge accepts it. If that happens, it would resolve one of two cases against Mangione in Thompson’s death.
Outside the court, dozens of people lined up for a glimpse of the defendant.
"This is a very sympathetic defendant to a lot of people," ABC legal analyst Shanna Lloyd explains. "This case has garnished a lot of public opinion and support. Typically that is not supposed to sway the legal justice system in any way."
Mangione is scheduled to go on trial state murder charges on Sept. 8, but his lawyers could seek to have the state case thrown out on double jeopardy grounds.
Mangione, 28, was charged by both federal and state prosecutors with ambushing Thompson, 50, outside a New York City hotel on Dec. 4, 2024, as the insurance executive walked to his company's annual investor conference.
Surveillance video of the killing showed a masked gunman shooting Thompson from behind. Police say “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims. That detail — and revelations that Mangione's private writings lambasted health insurers as greedy, according to authorities — made the case a fulcrum for debate about the industry and made Mangione a cause célèbre for some of its critics.
Mangione never was a UnitedHealthcare customer, according to police and the company. A University of Pennsylvania graduate from a wealthy Maryland family, he was arrested five days after the shooting, when he was spotted at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania. It's about 230 miles (370 kilometers) west of Manhattan.
Thompson led one of the United States' largest health insurers, but he wasn't well known outside the industry. Trained as an accountant, he had worked at parent company UnitedHealth Group Inc. for 20 years and became CEO of its insurance arm, UnitedHealthcare, in 2021.
