Luigi Mangione\u2019s lawyers plan to argue that he was experiencing \u201cextreme emotional disturbance\u201d when he killed a UnitedHealthcare executive in Midtown Manhattan in 2024, a state judge said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The disclosure in the State Supreme Court hearing amounts to a tacit admission by his lawyers that he killed the executive \u2014 the first time his lawyers have done so.<\/p>\n
In New York, if defense lawyers can convince a jury that strong emotions resulted in a \u201cprofound loss of self-control,\u201d leading to a homicide, the highest charge their clients can be convicted of is manslaughter.<\/p>\n
Mr. Mangione has pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n
Justice Gregory Carro, who is overseeing Mr. Mangione\u2019s case, said at the pretrial hearing that he would unseal documents and a transcript of a hearing earlier this month related to Mr. Mangione\u2019s mental health defense.<\/p>\n
The disclosure comes less than three months before the scheduled start of Mr. Mangione\u2019s trial in September. He faces multiple charges, including second-degree murder. He is also facing federal charges in a separate trial.<\/p>\n
Mr. Mangione, 28, is accused of killing the executive, Brian Thompson<\/a>, on the morning of Dec. 4, 2024. Surveillance footage showed a man in a hoodie emerge from between parked cars, point a handgun affixed with a silencer and fire at Mr. Thompson as he walked toward the hotel\u2019s entrance.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s saying that he did it, which is a big concession,\u201d said Gary Galperin, a former state prosecutor in Manhattan who now teaches at Cardozo School of Law. Mr. Mangione\u2019s legal team has the burden of proof to convince the jurors that his action was an understandable response to his grievance against health care insurers, Mr. Galperin said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile it\u2019s a viable defense, based on these facts, he will have a high hurdle to convince a jury,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n While Mr. Thompson\u2019s killing shocked some Americans, others viewed it as a manifestation of long-running frustrations with rising health care costs.<\/p>\n The state\u2019s case also narrowed on Wednesday, when Justice Carro granted the defense\u2019s move to dismiss a charge related to an ammunition magazine that he ruled last month could not be used as evidence at a trial.<\/p>\n