Luigi Mangione Stood Up in Federal Court and Said “I Shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan.”
· Thought Catalog
Updated 8 minutes ago, August 14, 2026
Mangione told the court he learned UnitedHealthcare would hold its annual investor conference in New York City on December 4, 2024, then emailed company leadership posing as an investor to pin down details. He got a response within an hour.
He said he printed a gun on a 3-D printer and affixed a silencer before killing Brian Thompson, the UnitedHealthcare chief executive, outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel that morning. “I understood that my actions would place him in fear of death or bodily injury. I knew what I was doing was illegal,” he told the judge.
The plea was open, with no agreement from prosecutors. The two counts, interstate stalking resulting in death and stalking through use of interstate facilities resulting in death, are what remained after Judge Garnett dismissed the federal murder and firearms counts in January on the question of whether stalking qualifies as a crime of violence. Those were the charges that had opened the door to the death penalty.
He faces up to life in prison on each of the two counts and will have to serve at least 85 percent of his sentence. Prosecutors say they’ll seek the maximum. Advisory guidelines were discussed in the range of roughly 24 to 30 years, but Judge Garnett isn’t bound by them. She set sentencing for December 18.
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His legal team has filed a motion in state court arguing the guilty plea triggers double jeopardy protections and should bar the pending second-degree murder trial, which had been heading toward jury selection around September 8. State prosecutors are expected to oppose it.
Thompson’s family called the plea “an important step toward justice,” adding, “Now we look to the court to ensure the sentencing reflects the severity of this crime.” UnitedHealth Group said it was grateful to law enforcement “for bringing Brian’s murderer to justice.”
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