Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty in a Manhattan federal court to stalking charges tied to the death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
“I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan and he died,” he told the court,
Prosecutors said Mangione traveled to New York City and fatally shot Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel on December 4, 2024, as he walked to UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor conference.
The judge has accepted his guilty plea and said sentencing would take place in December. Mangione faces a possible sentence of life without parole on the two counts of stalking.
Mangione lawyersseek dismissal of state murder charges
Mangione had previously pleaded not guilty to federal murder, weapons and stalking charges. Earlier this year, the judge dismissed the murder and weapons counts on legal technicalities, leaving only the stalking charges and eliminating the possibility of the death penalty.
Mangione still faces separate murder, weapons and forgery charges in New York state court. His federal guilty plea prompted defense arguments that some state charges should be dismissed.
Now, “state charges must be dismissed under New York’s double jeopardy protections,”Mangione’s lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, told reporters outside the federal court.
Under double jeopardy protections, defendants are protected from being prosecuted for the same crime twice.
How Mangione explained his guilty plea to the court
Mangione told the federal court he pursued Thompson “after years of enduring severe pain from a broken back and navigating the obstacles of the health insurance system.”
Thompson was chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, one of the largest health insurers in the United States.
He was walking into a Midtown Manhattan hotel for the annual investor day when he was shot three times in the back.
Mangione said he then used a 3D printer to make part of the gun used in the shooting.
The murder underscored widespread frustration with the US healthcare system, and some portrayed Mangione as a hero.
Conservatives, including President Donald Trump, however, have called for a tough punishment, while supporters gathered outside the Manhattan courthouse.
A man shouted “America loves Luigi” at relatives of Thompson as they left court Friday in a convoy of black SUVs.
Jamie McDonald, the Manhattan US attorney, told reporters that his office would seek a sentence of life imprisonment.
“There can be no celebrity in assassination,” he said.
Thompson’s family said in a statement that the plea marked an “important step toward justice.”
“We look to the court to ensure that sentencing reflects the severity of this crime,” the family said.
Edited by: Rob Turner
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