Luigi Mangione pleads guilty in federal case over killing of healthcare CEO

Mangione was charged in both state and federal court with shooting and killing 50-year-old Brian Thompson on Dec. 4, 2024.MANHATTAN (CN) — Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty Friday to federal charges related to the slaying of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a midtown Manhattan sidewalk in 2024.“Mr. Mangione is prepared to plead guilty to the indictment at this time,” said lawyer Karen Agnifilo in court.The bombshell change of plea came after his defense and federal prosecutors jointly requested a last-minute conference before U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett, a Joe Biden appointee. The letter immediately raised speculations of a guilty plea being filed mere hours after Mangione sat for his final pretrial conference in state court.Mangione, 28, initially pleaded not guilty to dueling murder prosecutions. With trial in the state-level murder case just weeks away — jury selection was set to begin on Sept. 8 — the guilty plea now threatens to upend the state prosecution on double jeopardy grounds.But the issue will have to be litigated. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office acknowledged the possibility that Mangione could plead out in his federal case to duck the state prosecution in a court filing last month, insisting it has “primary jurisdiction” over Mangione since state authorities had him in custody before federal law enforcement did.It also floated trying to convince Mangione’s federal judge to not accept the agreement.“If a proposed federal guilty plea would operate to defeat a just outcome in the state prosecution, the people could advise the federal district court of that consequence, and the court should consider that fact in deciding whether to accept the plea, as well as any opposition by the victim’s family to such a resolution,” Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann wrote on July 2.Mangione is now expected to file a motion in his state case to dismiss it due to double jeopardy.“One plus one equals two,” Mangione shouted after a February hearing in the state case. “It’s double jeopardy by any commonsense judgment.”The district attorney’s office is expected to fight. Ultimately, it will be up to New York Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro whether the state can try its marquee prosecution.It’s a similar situation to that of Donald Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, who was federally convicted on fraud charges in Virginia in 2018. The Manhattan district attorney was subsequently barred from bringing its own case against Manafort — a state appellate court found he was already convicted for “the same fraud, against the same victims.”A swell of public support has followed Mangione since his arrest in Pennsylvania on Dec. 9, 2024, five days after the shooting, driven mainly by national frustration toward the for-profit healthcare system. Investigators say they recovered handwritten journal entries from Mangione that referred to the industry as “parasitic” and UnitedHealthcare specifically as “a company that literally extracts human life force for money.”Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads