Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty Friday to federal stalking charges in connection with the December 2024 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, changing his plea during a morning hearing in Manhattan federal court.
The announcement came shortly after Judge Margaret Garnett took the bench for a scheduled pretrial conference. Lead defense attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo addressed the court just after 11:15 a.m., stating that her client was prepared to change his plea to the indictment.
Mangione arrived in the courtroom around 11:10 a.m. His hands were placed behind his back but uncuffed, and his feet were shackled. He sat between his defense attorneys at the table prior to the judge’s entrance.
Members of Thompson’s family entered the courtroom around 10:55 a.m. and sat in the front row of the gallery directly behind the prosecution. During the proceedings, some family members looked toward Mangione, and an older woman in the row wiped her eyes with a tissue.
U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald sat at the end of the front row alongside the family and Amanda Houle, the head of the Southern District of New York’s criminal division.
The defense team, which includes attorneys Jacob Kaplan, Marc Agnifilo, and Karen Friedman Agnifilo, arrived at the defense table starting at 10:34 a.m. The courtroom was filled with roughly 50 members of the press and 20 members of the public, including several Mangione supporters who previously secured city-issued media credentials.
Mangione was charged with two federal counts: interstate stalking resulting in death and stalking through the use of interstate facilities resulting in death. Each count carries a statutory maximum penalty of life in prison.
The plea resolves the federal case against Mangione just weeks ahead of a separate, state-level murder trial in New York. Thompson was shot and killed outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel in December 2024, an event that drew widespread national attention to health insurance practices across the United States.
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