By Jack Queen<\/p>\n
NEW YORK, Aug 14 (Reuters) \u2013 Luigi Mangione, the man accused of gunning down a health insurance executive on a Manhattan sidewalk, is due in federal court on Friday for a hearing where he could plead guilty to \u200bstalking or similar charges.<\/p>\n
A guilty plea would avert a trial in the \u200cclosely watched case over the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a brazen crime that was condemned by public officials but became emblematic of Americans\u2019 frustration with health insurance industry practices. It could also allow him to seek dismissal of state murder charges and delay an upcoming trial in that case.<\/p>\n
Mangione\u2019s lawyers and \u200cprosecutors \u200bwith the Manhattan U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office jointly requested the hearing \u2060without giving a reason.<\/p>\n
The New \u2060York Times reported on Thursday that Mangione was expected to plead guilty but said the specifics of the deal were unclear and could change because talks were ongoing. Mangione could also change his mind before or even during the hearing before U.S. \u200bDistrict Judge Margaret Garnett.<\/p>\n
He previously pleaded not guilty in April 2025 to murder, weapons and stalking charges brought by Manhattan federal prosecutors.<\/p>\n
Garnett threw out the murder and weapons charges \u2060over legal technicalities in a surprise ruling in \u2060January. The decision eliminated the possibility that Mangione would face the death \u200bpenalty, though he still faces a possible sentence of life without parole if convicted on \u200bthe remaining stalking charges.<\/p>\n
His federal trial was most recently set for January.<\/p>\n
Mangione separately \u200cpleaded not guilty in December 2024 to state terrorism, murder, weapons and forgery charges brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. The terrorism charges were thrown out by a judge in September 2025.<\/p>\n
A trial in that case is scheduled for September 8 before Justice Gregory \u2060Carro in Manhattan.\u00a0Mangione would face 25 years to life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder.<\/p>\n
If he pleads guilty in the federal case, Mangione is likely to seek dismissal of the murder \u2060charge under New York\u2019s double \u200cjeopardy law, which protects people from being prosecuted twice for \u2060the same conduct. Bragg\u2019s office would oppose the move, arguing that \u200bthe murder \u200ccharge is legally distinct from the federal charges.<\/p>\n
Whoever loses would \u200blikely seek an \u2060emergency appeal.<\/p>\n
Thompson led UnitedHealth Group\u2019s insurance unit before he was shot dead in the early morning of December 4, 2024, outside a hotel where an investor conference was taking place.<\/p>\n
Graphic footage of the killing and a five-day manhunt for a suspect made the case a media fixture and social media sensation. Mangione was arrested in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
(Reporting by Jack Queen in New York; \u200bEditing by Mark Porter)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Jack Queen NEW YORK, Aug 14 (Reuters) \u2013 Luigi Mangione, the man accused of gunning down a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[75,84,83,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-321174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321174","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=321174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}