Luigi Mangione pleads guilty to federal charges over killing of US health insurance CEO

LAST UPDATE | 2 hrs ago

LUIGI MANGIONE HAS pleaded guilty to charges relating to the shooting of US health insurance chief executive Brian Thompson in a Manhattan federal court today. 

In a crime that shook corporate America and gripped the country, 28-year-old Mangione is alleged to have shot dead Thompson (50) on December 2024 to protest the US insurance system.

He had been facing the stalking charges in the federal system, alongside murder charges in the state system.

Reading his statement today, Mangione told judge Margaret M. Garnett: “I shot Mr Thompson in Manhattan,” adding: “I understood that my actions would place him in fear of death or bodily injury. I knew what I was doing was illegal.” 

Mangione pleaded guilty to two charges: one count of interstate stalking resulting in death, which carries a maximum potential sentence of life in prison, and one count of stalking through use of interstate facilities resulting in death. That charge also carries a maximum of life.

The judge accepted his guilty plea.

She also explained to Mangione that the maximum sentence he can receive is life in prison on each of the two counts.

At the beginning of the short hearing, Mangione’s lawyer said that her client is here to plead guilty.

The judge asked Mangione if that was true, and he responded “yes.” 

The judge asked Mangione, “Do you feel that your mind is clear today?”

“I do,” he answered. 

The judge said she would not sentence Mangione today.

If Mangione is convicted in his state case, the judge added, any penalty he receives could be added to a federal sentence. 

The judge set the sentencing for 18 December 2026.

This hearing, in Manhattan federal court, comes as his lawyers have been talking with federal prosecutors about a possible resolution to one of two criminal cases against Mangione over Thompson’s death. Previous talks in June broke down.

Double jeopardy

Addressing reporters after the hearing, Mangione’s lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo said that her client had been “unfairly treated since the outset in every way”

She referred to the federal trial in New York and the state trial, which were “trying to punish him twice for the exact conduct”.

“He has been treated differently than every other defendant charged with this offence… thankfully, New York law does not allow this,” she said.

Referring to the double jeopardy protection, which ensures someone isn’t tried twice for the same crime, she said that today’s guilty plea “triggers this statute”.

She said that their legal team has just filed a motion in state court explaining why the state’s charges must be dismissed under New York’s double jeopardy protections.

Advertisement

Under New York law, a state prosecution could be barred if the federal case is resolved first, but it isn’t automatic.

The state’s double jeopardy protections kick in if a jury has been sworn in a prior prosecution, such as a federal case, or if that prosecution ends in a guilty plea.

Murder trial

Mangione’s state murder trial is set to begin 8 September, with both sets of charges carrying the possibility of a life sentence.

Mangione has pleaded not guilty and has spoken out publicly against the prospect of two trials, telling a judge in February: “It’s the same trial twice. One plus one is two. Double jeopardy by any common-sense definition.”

 Mangione’s cases involve different charges arising from the same course of conduct.

Mangione’s federal charges allege that he travelled across state lines by bus to stalk and kill Thompson and that he used means such as a mobile phone, the internet, interstate highways and staying at a hostel that serves out-of-state customers while planning and carrying out the attack.

The state charges pertain to the killing itself, as well as firearms offences.

In a letter last month, state prosecutors objected to the possibility of a guilty plea in the federal case wiping out the state case.

Assistant Manhattan District Attorney Joel Seidemann wrote:

Obviously, any guilty pleas in these matters must account for the seriousness of the defendant’s offences, the loss of an innocent life, the impact of those crimes on the victim’s family, and the other state interests that are implicated, including the sanctity of life principle that underpins the state homicide charges.

Mangione’s decision to plead guilty comes after a series of setbacks for his defence.

In January, US District Judge Margaret Garnett took the death penalty off the table but ruled that prosecutors could use items collected from Mangione’s backpack during his arrest as evidence against him.

They included a 3D-printed pistol that investigators said matched the one used to kill Thompson and a notebook in which authorities say Mangione described his intent to kill an insurance executive.

In June, Mangione’s lawyers said they would pursue a psychiatric defence in the state case but reversed course a day later. The defence, involving claims that he was suffering from extreme emotional disturbance at the time of the killing, isn’t allowed in federal court.

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.

Mangione, an Ivy League graduate from a wealthy Maryland family, was arrested five days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometres) west of Manhattan.

He has become a cause célèbre for people upset with the health insurance industry.

An online fundraiser for his legal defence fund raised more than $1.5 million (€1.31 million), and several dozen supporters have shown up to his court appearances, some wearing green clothing — the colour worn by the Mario Bros video game character Luigi — and “FREE LUIGI” T-shirts.

The family of Brian Thompson said in a statement that today’s guilty plea “marks an important step toward justice for Brian and for our family.”

“While nothing will ease the pain of losing him, we are grateful that the federal justice system has held the person responsible for this heinous act accountable,” the statement said. “Now we look to the court to ensure the sentencing reflects the severity of this crime.”

Additional reporting by PA