The 26-year-old man accused of killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson has entered a not guilty plea after being charged with state murder and murder as an act of terrorism.
Luigi Mangione was arrested after Thompson, 50, was shot dead in New York City on 4 December following a nationwide manhunt.
Today’s (23 December) hearing was Mangione’s first opportunity to formally address the accusations made against him by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, after he waived his right to appeal extradition from Pennsylvania to New York.
He was formally charged last week by the Manhattan district attorney with multiple counts of murder, including murder as an act of terrorism.
According to a report shared by PA, Mangione will be tried on both a state and federal level, with both cases running parallel to each other.
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.
A federal criminal complaint made against Mangione was unsealed and shared by the US Department of Justice on December 19, which accused Mangione of having ‘stalked’ Thompson in the days before his death.
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said: “Today, the Justice Department has brought federal murder charges against Luigi Mangione. As alleged, Mangione planned his attack for months and stalked his victim for days before murdering him — methodically planning when, where, and how to carry out his crime.
“I am grateful to our state and local law enforcement partners for their tireless efforts to locate and apprehend the defendant and to ensure that he answers for his alleged crime.”
Meanwhile his attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, has shared her concerns about the 26-year-old receiving a fair trial, following concerns she made about calling the charges brought against Mangione during an appearance at federal court last week.
“He’s a young man and he’s being treated like a human pingpong ball by two warring jurisdictions here,” she said (via CNN). “They’re treating him like a human spectacle.”
Alongside the state and federal charges, Mangione also faces charges a number of separate charges in Pennsylvania in connection to a 3D-printed firearm and false ID. These items are said to have been found in his possession when he was arrested at a McDonald’s in the city of Altoona.
