Luigi Mangione on Friday pleaded not guilty to Manhattan federal court charges that he stalked and murdered the UnitedHealthcare chief executive, Brian Thompson, late last year.
Mangione, 26, walked into court just before 1pm. He was wearing tan jail garb with a white long-sleeved undershirt. He chatted with his lawyers, who sat alongside him, and at one point appeared to smile; he could be seen flipping through papers on the table.
Judge Margaret M Garnett asked Mangione to stand, and Mangione confirmed to the justice that he had seen a copy of this indictment and had had enough time to discuss it with his lawyers.
Garnett asked Mangione his plea. Mangione said: “Not guilty.”
Mangione could face the death penalty in a case that shocked America for the killing of a top business executive on New York’s streets but also triggered an outpouring of anger against America’s for-profit healthcare industry.
As with prior proceedings, throngs of supporters of Mangione queued up outside to secure a much-coveted seat in court. Many sported medical masks or sunglasses, or both, and were reticent about speaking to media but did attack the healthcare system.
“I am a chronically ill person. I live in chronic pain,” one woman told the Guardian in explaining why she was at court. She said that she had never been in “that much medical debt” compared to others, but “when I say not that much I mean like $30,000.”
Even if it were proved that Mangione killed Thompson, she said, she believes his guilt embodies an ethical grey area. The healthcare industry kills thousands and Mangione was one man, she said. “One life [versus] like a thousand lives, that moral dilemma,” she said.
When asked about the announcement prosecutors would seek the death penalty, she said: “It’s state-sanctioned murder.
“He’s a political prisoner – school shooters don’t get that.”
As those waiting in line chatted among themselves, an LCD-screen truck, displaying support of Mangione, repeatedly drove by the courthouse. One image featured a photo of Mangione smiling that read: “END THE DEATH PENALTY NOW.” The intelligence whistleblower Chelsea Manning was also among those in line.
Mangione’s arraignment comes months after his arrest for allegedly gunning down Thompson outside a New York hotel on 4 December. He was apprehended on 9 December at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after a restaurant worker purportedly recognized him from law enforcement advisories and tipped off police.
In federal court, Mangione faces stalking, murder through use of a firearm, and firearms offense charges. Mangione is also charged with a host of murder and firearms counts in New York state court.
Pennsylvania state prosecutors are also pursuing a case against him related to alleged weapons possession and false identification. He has also maintained his innocence in the state cases.
While Mangione was already staring down the prospect of life imprisonment following his arrest, Donald Trump’s attorney general, Pam Bondi, raised the stakes several weeks ago by announcing that she was directing prosecutors to seek the death penalty.
Bondi called Thompson’s killing “a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America”. She stated that her decision was in keeping with “President Trump’s agenda to stop violent crime and Make America Safe Again”.
In court, Garnett cautioned prosecutors against making inflammatory statements. She urged them to abide by local court rules that bar attorneys from making “public commentary that could impede Mr Mangione’s right to a fair trial” and to pick a fair jury.
“I’m specifically directing the government to convey my directive to Mr Clayton,” Garnett said, referring to acting Manhattan federal prosecutor Jay Clayton. The judge also directed that prosecutors “request that he convey the same to Attorney General Bondi” and her associates.
The last time federal prosecutors in Manhattan pursued the death penalty involved Sayfullo Saipov, an Islamist extremist who murdered eight people in a truck attack.
During the penalty phase of Saipov’s trial, jurors could not unanimously decide on whether to impose death, resulting in him being automatically sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole.
Gregory Germain, a professor of law at Syracuse University’s College of Law, previously told the Guardian that nearly all recent federal death penalty cases took place during Trump’s first term.
Germain said he believed that Trump’s justice department would not agree to an agreement in which Mangione pleaded guilty in exchange for a life sentence.
“He has political reasons, wanting to seem ‘tough on crime’ by supporting the death penalty,” Germain said.
Karen Friedman Agnifilo, Mangione’s lead defense attorney, raised several constitutional points during the proceeding. She said there was a “handshake deal” forged between Manhattan prosecutors and Biden’s justice department, under which his state case would be tried first.
But now that federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, Friedman Agnifilo said they will fight this plan.
“It’s partly scheduling, your honor, but it’s also constitutional issues [that] are going to be impacted if we are forced to try that case first,” she said.
Friedman Agnifilo also alleged in court that authorities have been listening in on Mangione’s privileged communications.
“We were just informed by the state court prosecutors that they were eavesdropping on all of Mr Mangione’s calls,” she said. “They were listening to his attorney calls and all of his other calls going on. They said it was inadvertent that they were listening to a call between Mr Mangione and me.”
Friedman Agnifilo asked the judge to put a directive in place to prevent this from happening again. Garnett asked prosecutor Dominic Gentile about the alleged recording.
Gentile said this was “the very first we’ve heard of this situation” and that such would not be “normal practice.”
Garnett told Gentile that she wanted prosecutors to file a letter within seven days outlining what they knew about the recording.
