Luigi Mangione Pleads Not Guilty to Federal Murder Charges

Luigi Mangione pleaded not guilty to federal charges of murder, stalking, and firearms offenses on Friday afternoon in New York federal court. The night before, prosecutors filed formal notice to seek the death penalty for Mangione, who has been accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. 

The filing claims Mangione, “intentionally killed” Thompson, to “amplify an ideological message, maximize the visibility and impact of the victim’s murder, and to provoke broad-based resistance to the victim’s industry.” Federal prosecutors also allege that Mangione “presents a future danger because he expressed intent to target an entire industry and rally political and social opposition to that industry, by engaging in an act of lethal violence.” Mangione’s legal team, led by Karen Friedman Agnifilo, previously called the Justice Department’s intent to seek the death penalty “barbaric.” 

Mangione, 26, was uncuffed in his tan prison uniform. He is currently being held at Metropolitan Detention Center and is also facing charges in two additional state cases in Pennsylvania and New York. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges in the three cases against him.

At the arraignment, Mangione’s lawyer, Friedman Agnifilo, said that since the death penalty is officially being sought, his defense would be moving to have the federal trial go before the New York state trial. Previously there had been a handshake agreement that New York would go first. Friedman Agnifilo has repeatedly spoken about how “unprecedented” it is that three jurisdictions (Pennsylvania, New York, federal) are seeking charges for the accusation of one murder.

Friedman Agnifilo also revealed that state prosecutors had just informed her they had been eavesdropping on all of Mangione’s phone calls, including his calls with his legal team. “They said they inadvertently listened to him and me,” Friedman Agnifilo said in court. She also added they told her they received the calls from the Southern District of New York.
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Judge Margaret Garnett asked prosecutor Dominic Gentile about the eavesdropping. “This is the first we’ve heard of this,” Gentile responded, adding that this was not the federal court’s normal practice. He said federal prosecutors would look into the situation. Garnett ordered the prosecution to respond by May 2, updating the court on what arrangements they were making to make sure Mangione’s able to privately speak to his attorneys. She asked to hear what had happened and what is being done to prevent a repeat scenario.

Earlier this month Attorney General Pam Bondi announced she had directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty. “Luigi Mangione’s murder of Brian Thompson — an innocent man and father of two young children — was a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America,” Bondi said in a statement. 

“The murder was an act of political violence,” Bondi’s office said in her statement. “Mangione’s actions involved substantial planning and premeditation and because the murder took place in public with bystanders nearby, may have posed grave risk of death to additional persons.”

Friedman Agnifilo slammed their argument. “Their decision to execute Luigi is political and goes against the recommendation of the local federal prosecutors, the law, and historical precedent,” said Friedman Agnifilo. “While claiming to protect against murder, the federal government moves to commit the pre-meditated, state-sponsored murder of Luigi. By doing this, they are defending the broken, immoral, and murderous healthcare industry that continues to terrorize the American people.”

In court on Friday, Garnett said that given how high-profile Mangione’s case is, she wanted to remind the lawyers of rule 23.1, which prevents legal team from trial publicity and giving extrajudicial statements on the case. “I am openly directing the government to discuss with [Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay] Clayton and have Mr. Clayton discuss this with Attorney General Bondi.”
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Mangione’s next New York state court appearance is scheduled for June 26. In Pennsylvania, his legal team has filed motions declaring Mangione’s constitutional rights were violated when he was apprehended in Altoona. 

Judge Margaret Garnett set dates for motions to be filed and said that on Dec. 5, the next scheduled hearing, she intends to set a firm trial date in 2026.

Outside of the courthouse on Friday, groups of supporters convened for a rally to calling for justice for Mangione. A legal fund has raised more than $950,000 for his defense. People Over Profit NYC organized the rally, with calls to action about health care reform. One man, a provocative conservative artist named Scott LoBaido wheeled around an effigy of Mangione; a skeleton dressed as the Luigi character from SuperMario, strapped to an electric chair. LoBaido walked around with bodyguards and a sign that said “Fuck Luigi.”

Meanwhile, death penalty advocates are speaking out against the federal government’s decision to pursue capital punishment. Death Penalty Action executive director Abraham Bonowitz released a statement calling it a “hypocritical political stunt” by Bondi.

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“This is yet another disturbing reminder that our society values certain lives more than others,” said Bonowitz. “Just in recent months, another individual who many would classify as “the worst of the worst,” who killed multiple people in a mass shooting in a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, was appropriately punished without the death penalty. While we do not condone the murder of Brian Thompson, his life did not matter more than the lives of regular people who were simply out ‘shopping while Brown.’”

“We urge the Attorney General to rescind her call for the death penalty,” he continued. “Should Luigi Mangione be found guilty after a fair trial, we demand that the Trump Administration pursue an alternative punishment, one that can hold him accountable without killing him.”