A jury that accepts such a defense would be obligated to convict Mangione of manslaughter, which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison, instead of murder, which could put him behind bars for the rest of his life. An emotional disturbance defense isn\u2019t available in Mangione\u2019s federal case, where he also faces a possible life sentence.<\/p>\n
New York Judge Gregory Carro announced the defense\u2019s decision in court two weeks after holding a\u00a0secret hearing<\/a>\u00a0on the matter. He said he will unseal a transcript and other records from that hearing once redactions are made.<\/p>\n Carro said Mangione\u2019s lawyers first raised the possibility of a psychiatric defense last year in a letter that was filed under seal and confirmed their decision at the June 3 hearing, which the judge said was held in secret at the defense\u2019s request.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reasons for the sealing was to give the defense an opportunity to determine whether they were going forth with that defense and the nature of that defense,\u201d Carro said.<\/p>\n Luigi Mangione appears for a pre-trial hearing at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, Wednesday, June 17, 2026. (AP Photo\/Angelina Katsanis, Pool)\n<\/p>\n Luigi Mangione appears for a pre-trial hearing at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, Wednesday, June 17, 2026. (AP Photo\/Angelina Katsanis, Pool)\n<\/p>\n Show Caption<\/p>\n 1 of 2<\/p>\n Luigi Mangione appears for a pre-trial hearing at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, Wednesday, June 17, 2026. (AP Photo\/Angelina Katsanis, Pool)\n<\/p>\n Expand<\/a><\/p>\n Carro said he didn\u2019t expect the development to delay Mangione\u2019s trial, which is scheduled to begin with jury selection on Sept. 8. His next pretrial hearing is scheduled for Aug. 11.<\/p>\n Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann said he wants Mangione evaluated by a prosecution psychiatrist. To facilitate that, Carro said, Mangione could soon be moved to New York City\u2019s Rikers Island jail complex from a federal jail in Brooklyn, where he has been held since shortly after his December 2024 arrest.<\/p>\n Mangione, 28, has pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges in the Dec. 4, 2024, killing. His federal trial, which involves stalking charges, is set to begin on Oct. 13.<\/p>\n Mangione, sitting between his lawyers and wearing a blue suit, didn\u2019t appear to react as Carro spoke. At a February at a hearing, Mangione railed against the prospect of two trials, telling Carro: \u201cIt\u2019s the same trial twice. One plus one is two. Double jeopardy by any commonsense definition.\u201d<\/p>\n An extreme emotional disturbance defense wouldn\u2019t absolve Mangione of responsibility for Thompson\u2019s killing. It is not the same as a not guilty by reason of insanity defense, which would allow a defendant to go to a psychiatric facility instead of prison.<\/p>\n Mangione\u2019s lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, said unsealing the transcript of the secret hearing and materials related to his psychiatric defense will harm him in his federal case.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reason why we asked for the sealing is that this defense is not available federally and Mr. Mangione is being prosecuted federally and this is prejudicial to his defense to the exact same facts,\u201d Friedman Agnifilo said.<\/p>\n The judge had been set to rule on the matter Tuesday, but was forced to delay it a day because prosecutors failed to let Mangione\u2019s jail know that he was needed in court.<\/p>\n Thompson, 50, was killed as he walked to a Manhattan hotel for UnitedHealth Group\u2019s annual investor conference. Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind. Police say \u201cdelay,\u201d \u201cdeny\u201d and \u201cdepose\u201d were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.<\/p>\n Mangione, an Ivy League graduate from a wealthy Maryland family,\u00a0was arrested five days later<\/a>\u00a0at a McDonald\u2019s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of Manhattan.<\/p>\n At a May 18 hearing, Carro ruled that a gun and notebook that prosecutors say link Mangione to the killing\u00a0can be used as evidence<\/a>\u00a0against him. The gun, a 3D-printed pistol, matches\u00a0the one used to kill Thompson<\/a>, prosecutors said. The notebook describes wanting to \u201cwack\u201d a health insurance executive and rebelling against \u201cthe deadly, greed fueled health insurance cartel.\u201d<\/p>\n On Wednesday, Carro dismissed a charge related to a gun magazine that he had ruled inadmissible because it was found during an initial search of Mangione\u2019s backpack at the McDonald\u2019s.<\/p>\n To establish an emotional disturbance defense, Mangione\u2019s lawyers must show that the disturbance was so extreme it robbed him of self-control; that, in his mind, he had a reasonable explanation or excuse for the disturbance; and that he killed Thompson while \u201cunder the influence\u201d of that disturbance.<\/p>\n This story has been corrected to show that Mangione could receive less prison time as a result of a conviction using this defense, not be sent to a psychiatric facility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By MICHAEL R. SISAK NEW YORK (AP) \u2014\u00a0Luigi Mangione\u00a0plans to assert a psychiatric defense at his state murder…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":269583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[6972,6974,103980,44484,75,84,83,9,24,63,6973],"class_list":["post-269701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-brian-thompson","tag-luigi-mangione","tag-luigi-mangione-psychiatric-defense","tag-luigi-mangione-trial","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-unitedhealthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Luigi](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/AP26168518676317.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Luigi](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/AP26168504028207.jpg?w=620\")
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