Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty on Friday (August 14) to federal stalking charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Mangione admitted matter-of-factly that he trailed the executive to an investor conference and shot him on a New York City street in 2024.

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Luigi Mangione Admits Guilt In Stalking Charge 

Mangione said he even used a ruse to glean information about the event. The 28-year-old contacted the health insurance company in advance, posing as an investor at a multibillion-dollar firm.

“On the morning of Dec. 4, 2024, I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan, and he died,” Luigi Mangione told the Manhattan federal court.

He entered the court while he was shackled at the feet but not handcuffed in his beige jail uniform. Listening in the audience, Brian Thompson’s wife, Paulette, took several deep breaths and repeatedly wiped tears from her eyes.

Prosecutors plan to seek a life prison term at Luigi Mangione’s sentencing, set for Dec. 18. When U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Garnett asked whether he understood that he could spend the rest of his life behind bars, Mangione answered neutrally: “Yes.”

In a statement, the late UnitedHealthcare CEO’s family called the plea “an important step toward justice.” The statement also noted that Mangione still faces other cases, including a New York state murder prosecution. It carries the potential for a separate long sentence.

Mangione Attempts To Explain His Actions, Officials Reject Reasoning

Surveillance video of Luigi Mangione ambushing the UnitedHealthcare CEO showed a masked gunman shooting Thompson from behind. Police say “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.

Mangione was a University of Pennsylvania graduate from a wealthy Maryland family. He told the court Friday that he pursued Thompson “after years of enduring severe pain from a broken back and navigating the obstacles of the health insurance system.” Attorney Friedman Agnifilo later said her client “believed that the system had failed him and destroyed his life.”

However, it should be noted that Mangione never was a UnitedHealthcare customer, according to police and the company.

“To those who idolize Luigi Mangione, I say this. Violence is not a cause. Murder is not a message. And a killer is certainly not a hero,” New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said outside court Friday.

Also, U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald, whose office handled the federal case, added: “There can be no celebrity in assassination.”

For context, Brian Thompson led one of the United States’ largest health insurers, but he wasn’t well known outside the industry. Trained as an accountant, he worked at parent company UnitedHealth Group Inc. for 20 years. Then, he became CEO of its insurance arm, UnitedHealthcare, in 2021. Brian and his wife had two sons. The kids were in high school when Luigi killed their father.

Thompson’s violent death “devastated everyone who knew and loved him,” the company said in a statement Friday. It thanked law enforcement for bringing Luigi Mangione to justice.

He Still Faces A State Murder Case, But His Defense Wants It Tossed

Federal prosecutors didn’t give Luigi Mangione any deal or incentive to plead guilty, they and his lawyers said. Nor did Mangione plead guilty to avoid a potential death sentence. That possibility was taken off the table when a federal murder charge was tossed out this winter.

But after Mangione entered the plea at Friday’s scheduled hearing, his lawyers quickly sought to have the New York case thrown out on double jeopardy grounds. The state’s double jeopardy protections can kick in if a prior prosecution ends in a guilty plea.

“Mr. Mangione has accepted full responsibility for the death of Brian Thompson,” defense lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo said outside court. She argued that her client shouldn’t face two prosecutions over a “single tragic event.”

The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which is handling the state prosecution, said it remains committed to its case and would contest the defense’s efforts to shut it down.

Recap Of Evidence That Could Work Against Luigi Mangione

Authorities arrested Mangione five days after the shooting. At the time, he was spotted at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles west of Manhattan. Police had released various images of the suspected shooter, including one showing his face as he checked into a hostel.

Although his lawyers got the federal murder charge dismissed, Judge Margaret M. Garnett also delivered some setbacks to the defense. Garnett ruled in January that prosecutors could use items collected from Mangione’s backpack during his arrest as evidence against him. They included a 3D-printed pistol that investigators said matched the one used to kill Thompson. There was also a notebook in which authorities say Mangione described his intent to kill an insurance executive.

Similarly, the judge in the state case threw out terrorism charges against Mangione. However, the judge agreed to let the gun and notebook be used as evidence. The case has been heading toward a September trial. However, his lawyers’ new bid to dismiss it could complicate the timeline.

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Associated Press writers Michael R. Sisak, Larry Neumeister, Jennifer Peltz, Dave Collins and Alanna Durkin contributed to this report via AP Newsroom.