Luigi Mangione pleads guilty to federal stalking charges in killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson

Guilty plea in federal court

Luigi Mangione, 28, pleaded guilty on Friday, August 14, in a federal courtroom in New York to two counts of stalking UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson with intent to kill: one count of interstate stalking resulting in death and one count of cyberstalking through use of interstate facilities resulting in death. The plea came just weeks before his scheduled state trial and marked his first public admission of the December 4, 2024 shooting outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel. U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett set his federal sentencing for December 18, 2026. Prosecutors with the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office, led by U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald, said they would seek a life sentence.

In a 10-minute allocution, Mangione described how he had endured years of severe back pain and navigated the health insurance system before tracking down the location of UnitedHealthcare's annual investor conference. He said he posed as a wealthy investor managing over $50 billion in assets to solicit information about the conference, which was not publicly disclosed. He traveled to Manhattan in November 2024 and sent an email to UnitedHealthcare management. He noted that, unlike his previous experiences with insurers, he received a response within an hour. On the morning of December 4, he shot Thompson with a partially 3-D printed gun and fled, leaving him bleeding on the sidewalk.

“I shot Mr Thompson in Manhattan and he died.”

Mangione stated he understood his actions were illegal and that they would place Thompson in fear of death or serious injury. At the time of his arrest, he was found with a document prosecutors called a manifesto decrying America's for-profit health care system and the "parasites" of the insurance industry. He did not use such language in court.

State case in jeopardy

Mangione still faces state murder and weapons charges in Manhattan, with trial scheduled for September 8. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges. Moments after his federal plea, defense lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo filed a motion to dismiss the state case, arguing New York's double jeopardy law prohibits prosecuting him twice for the same underlying conduct. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office said it was prepared to litigate the motion. Justice Gregory Carro, overseeing the state case, will need to issue a briefing schedule.

Legal experts offered mixed assessments. Catherine Christian, a defense lawyer and former Manhattan prosecutor, said Bragg's office would face an uphill battle because New York's double jeopardy law carves out exceptions only for crimes with different elements aimed at preventing "very different kinds of harm or evil." The stalking charges, while having different elements than murder, still require intent to kill.

Neama Rahmani, founder of West Coast Trial Lawyers and a former federal prosecutor, said the defense argument could go either way but added that he believed they would be successful. Anna Cominsky, a law professor and director of the criminal defense clinic at New York Law School, said Mangione's team was arguing that a federal conviction would preclude the state from prosecuting the same conduct.

Public reaction and what's next

The case has retained a distinct place in the public psyche, with some rallying in support of a gunman whose act was seen as a protest against the health insurance industry. On Friday, supporters gathered outside the courthouse in Manhattan. A man shouted "America loves Luigi" as Thompson's relatives departed in a car convoy. Prosecutor Jamie McDonald addressed the public support directly.

“A murder must not lead to fame.”

Mangione will return to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where he has been jailed since his December 2024 arrest following a five-day manhunt. The defense had previously announced plans to invoke extreme emotional disturbance in the state case, an argument available under New York law but not in federal court. The death penalty was removed from the equation earlier in the year when Judge Garnett dismissed the more serious federal charges that could have supported a death penalty request.