{"id":270185,"date":"2026-06-17T23:07:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T23:07:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/270185\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T23:07:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T23:07:20","slug":"luigi-mangione-will-assert-psychiatric-defense-in-murder-case-in-unitedhealthcare-ceos-killing-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/270185\/","title":{"rendered":"Luigi Mangione will assert psychiatric defense in murder case in UnitedHealthcare CEO\u2019s killing"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014\u00a0Luigi Mangione<\/a>\u00a0plans to assert a psychiatric defense at his state murder trial, claiming he was suffering from extreme emotional disturbance when he gunned down\u00a0UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson<\/a>, a judge said Wednesday. It wouldn\u2019t absolve him of the Dec. 4, 2024, killing, but could free him from prison sooner.<\/p>\n

If a jury accepts that defense, the panel would convict Mangione of manslaughter and he would face up to 25 years in prison. Alternatively, the jury could reject the extreme emotional disturbance defense and convict him of murder, which carries a potential life sentence. That defense isn\u2019t available in his federal case.<\/p>\n

Judge Gregory Carro announced the decision in court Wednesday, two weeks after holding a\u00a0secret hearing<\/a>\u00a0on the matter at the defense\u2019s request. He said he will release a transcript from that hearing and other records once redactions are made.<\/p>\n

\"LuigiLuigi Mangione appears for a pre-trial hearing at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, Wednesday, June 17, 2026.(Angelina Katsanis | AP Photo\/Angelina Katsanis)\u2018Nothing is going to be a surprise,\u2019 judge warns<\/p>\n

Carro said Mangione\u2019s lawyers first notified him in a sealed letter last September that they planned to pursue a psychiatric defense and confirmed the decision at the June 3 hearing.<\/p>\n

But, the judge warned, they\u2019re \u201ccoming close to not being able to put forth that defense\u201d after prosecutors complained that Mangione\u2019s lawyers had yet to give them details about what they say triggered their client\u2019s extreme emotional disturbance. Prosecutors need to know that before they have their own psychological expert evaluate him, Carro said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing is going to be a surprise,\u201d Carro told Mangione\u2019s lawyers. \u201cI\u2019m not going to let you surprise the People on the eve of trial. So, get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carro said he didn\u2019t expect the development to delay Mangione\u2019s trial, which is scheduled to start Sept. 8. The federal trial, which involves stalking charges, is set to begin on Oct. 13.<\/p>\n

Mangione, 28, has pleaded not guilty in both cases.<\/p>\n

Sitting between his lawyers and wearing a blue suit, he tried to block his face with a large envelope as news photographers crowded near him\u00a0at the start of Wednesday\u2019s hearing<\/a>. He didn\u2019t appear to have any reaction as Carro spoke about the planned psychiatric defense.<\/p>\n

At a February hearing, Mangione had 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 emotional disturbance defense 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

Circumstances of case could hamper defense, expert says<\/p>\n

To establish an emotional disturbance defense, Mangione\u2019s lawyers must demonstrate that the disturbance was so extreme it robbed him of self-control; that, in his mind, there was a reasonable explanation for the disturbance; and that it influenced him to kill Thompson.<\/p>\n

Heather Cucolo, a New York Law School professor and expert in mental health law, said Mangione\u2019s lawyers could try to accomplish that by having a psychologist testify about his mental state at the time of the killing and the extent of any trauma, abuse or emotional instability he\u2019s suffered. But, she said, they aren\u2019t required to show any proof of a mental illness or show he was in danger.<\/p>\n

The circumstances of Mangione\u2019s case could make it tough for his lawyers to convince jurors to accept a defense that people often associate with crimes of passion or a sudden outburst where someone is given shocking information that evokes a strong response, Cucolo said.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors say Mangione planned the attack, wrote in a notebook about wanting to \u201cwack\u201d a health insurance executive and traveled from out of state to ambush Thompson, 50, as the CEO walked to a Manhattan hotel for an investor conference. \u201cDelay,\u201d \u201cdeny\u201d and \u201cdepose\u201d were written on the ammunition, police said, mimicking a phrase describing how insurers avoid paying claims.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople want to view this within a relatively short period of time and they want it to be simply laid out,\u201d Cucolo said, giving the example of a spousal killing over infidelity. As time passes, she said, \u201cpeople are not as willing to accept this emotional response that ends up in the death of a human being.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mangione\u2019s lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, protested Carro\u2019s decision to unseal materials related to his psychiatric defense, saying it will be \u201cprejudicial to his defense to the exact same facts\u201d in his federal case.<\/p>\n

Last month, Carro ruled that the notebook\u00a0and a 3D-printed pistol<\/a>, which prosecutors say matches the gun used to kill Thompson,\u00a0can be used as evidence<\/a>\u00a0against Mangione. But he said a loaded gun magazine and other items were seized during\u00a0an \u201cimproper warrantless search\u201d<\/a>\u00a0when he was arrested in Pennsylvania five days after the killing.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Carro dismissed a charge related to the magazine.<\/p>\n

__<\/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

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014\u00a0Luigi Mangione\u00a0plans to assert a psychiatric defense at his state murder trial, claiming he was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270186,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[104182,6974,104184,104185,103980,104181,75,84,83,9,24,63,31289,104183,104186],"class_list":["post-270185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-brian-thompson-united-healthcare-ceo","tag-luigi-mangione","tag-luigi-mangione-murder-case","tag-luigi-mangione-psychiatric-defence","tag-luigi-mangione-psychiatric-defense","tag-luigi-mangione-state-trial","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-united-healthcare","tag-united-healthcare-ceo-murdered","tag-united-healthcare-ceo-murdered-luigi-mangione"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270185","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=270185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}