Luigi Mangione’s lawyers withdraw plan to use 'mental defect' defense for allegedly shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO
Luigi Mangione, accused of fatally shooting Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, in December 2024, has withdrawn his intent to use a mental defect defense in his murder trial in New York. (Photo by Steven Hirsch/The New York Post via the Associated Press)
Luigi Mangione’s attorneys have withdrawn their intent to argue he was suffering from an “extreme emotional disturbance” at the time he allegedly murdered UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
The abrupt turn came last Thursday - a day after New York State Justice Gregory Carro revealed at a pretrial hearing that Mangione’s legal team filed a motion last September that lawyers were considering the defense, reports the New York Times.
Notice of the defense withdrawal came in a one sentence letter to the judge. Justice Carro put the documents and transcript that exposed the defense strategy back under seal.
Mangione is accused of shooting Thompson with a silenced handgun outside a midtown Manhattan hotel on Dec. 4, 2024. He was arrested after a manhunt that ended days later in Pennsylvania.
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