Luigi Mangione pleads not guilty to state murder, terror charges

Luigi Mangione, the man accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson earlier this month in NYC, pleaded not guilty Monday morning in a Manhattan court on murder and terror charges in a state case that will run parallel to his federal prosecution.

Mangione, 26, was shackled and seated in a Manhattan court when he leaned over to a microphone to enter his plea. The Manhattan district attorney formally charged him last week with multiple counts of murder, including murder as an act of terrorism.

His initial appearance in New York State Supreme Court was preempted by federal prosecutors bringing their own charges over the shooting. The federal charges could carry the possibility of the death penalty, while the maximum sentence for the state charges is life in prison without parole.

Prosecutors have said the two cases will proceed on parallel tracks, with the state charges expected to go to trial first.

FILE - Luigi Mangione, the suspect indicted in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, is seen arriving at the South Street Helipad in New York City on December 19, 2024 after being extradited from Pennsylvania. (Photo by XNY/Star Max/GC I

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According to authorities, Mangione shot and killed Thompson on the morning of Dec. 4 as he was walking to an investor conference in midtown Manhattan.

Mangione was arrested inside a Pennsylvania McDonald’s after a five-day search, carrying a gun that matched the one used in the shooting and a fake ID, police said. He also was carrying a notebook expressing hostility toward the health insurance industry and especially wealthy executives, according to federal prosecutors.

An Ivy-league graduate from a prominent Maryland family, Mangione appeared to have cut himself off from family and friends in recent months. He posted frequently in online forums about his struggles with back pain. He was never a UnitedHealthcare client, according to the insurer.

Thompson, a married father of two high-schoolers, worked at the giant UnitedHealth Group for 20 years and became CEO of its insurance arm back in 2021.

Luigi Mangione jailed in Brooklyn

Mangione is being held without bail at Metropolitan Detention Center, the same federal jail where hip-hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs and cryptocurrency fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried are currently detained.

The notorious Brooklyn facility, the only federal lockup in the city, has been variously described as "hell on earth" and an "ongoing tragedy" because of deplorable conditions, rampant violence, dysfunction and multiple deaths.

The federal Bureau of Prisons has said it is increasing staffing to make up for staggering shortfalls, but conditions have been so stark at the jail, which houses about 1,100 inmates, that some judges have refused to send people there.

Luigi Mangione death penalty possibility

New York effectively abolished its death penalty by 2007 and the last execution in the state was in 1963, but the federal death penalty remains in effect.

The federal complaint filed against Mangione includes a count of murder by firearm, which carries the possibility of the death penalty if he is convicted.

Federal prosecutors have not said if they will seek the death penalty. That decision will be made in coming months by Justice Department officials in Washington, likely after President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20.

President Joe Biden's administration put a moratorium on federal executions soon after he took office in 2021, but that hasn't stopped federal prosecutors from seeking the death penalty.

In contrast, Trump's administration carried out 13 executions in the last six months of his first term.