Luigi Mangione said Friday he is pleading guilty to both counts of federal stalking charges connected to the 2024 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a major development that could complicate New York prosecutors’ separate murder case against him.Mangione, 28, pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to two stalking charges resulting in Thompson’s death. Each count carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.“I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan,” Mangione told the court on Friday. “I understood that my actions would place him in fear of death or bodily injury. I knew what I was doing was illegal.”
Luigi Mangione appears for a pretrial hearing at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York on June 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis, Pool)
The plea came weeks before Mangione was scheduled to stand trial in New York state court on charges including second-degree murder in the Dec. 4, 2024, shooting of Thompson outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel.Federal prosecutors initially brought additional murder and firearms charges, and former Attorney General Pam Bondi directed prosecutors to seek the death penalty. But U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett dismissed the death-eligible counts in January, leaving the two stalking charges.The failed death penalty effort has also given Mangione’s lawyers an opening to exploit an unusual federal prosecution, former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani said. Federal authorities typically do not bring murder cases when state prosecutors are already handling them, he told LiveNOW from Fox, but the remaining stalking charges could now be used to challenge Bragg’s state case on double-jeopardy grounds.How long could Mangione face in prison?
