Luigi Mangione pleads not guilty to murder charges in NYC killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO

The man accused of shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in a calculated killing outside a Midtown hotel pleaded not guilty to murder in furtherance of terrorism and other felony charges Monday.

Luigi Mangione, 26, was arraigned in a lower Manhattan courtroom after he was indicted on a host of state charges last week. The U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York has also charged him federally — the most serious of those charges is punishable by the death penalty.

Prosecutors say Mangione targeted the health insurance executive while he was in New York City for an investor conference on Dec. 4. They say Mangione took a bus to Manhattan, checked into an Upper West Side hostel with a fake ID, waited for about an hour outside Thompson’s hotel and then shot him twice from behind, using an untraceable, 3D-printed ghost gun.

Authorities say the shooter fled the scene, and law enforcement pored over surveillance footage to track his movements. Officers arrested Mangione at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania days later. Since then, the Ivy League graduate and valedictorian of his high school has been seen as an hero for some of those frustrated by the health insurance industry.

Dozens of members of the public crowded into the 13th-floor courtroom, filling four rows of wooden benches. More than a dozen supporters also gathered in the sub-freezing temperatures outside the courthouse. Some held signs that said “Deny Defend Depose” — the same words police said were written on bullets found at the crime scene — and “United Healthcare stole my livelihood.”

The Manhattan grand jury indicted Mangione on state charges of first-degree murder in furtherance of terrorism, two counts of second-degree murder — including one as a crime of terrorism — several charges of illegal weapons possession and one charge of illegal possession of a forged instrument for allegedly using a counterfeit ID. If convicted of the most serious state charge, he could be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Mangione walked stiffly into the courtroom with his hands cuffed in front of him, escorted by an entourage of officers, shortly before 9:30 a.m. Monday. He was dressed in khaki pants, a white button-down shirt and a burgundy pullover sweater. As he walked down the aisle, he appeared to be sniffling.

After Mangione sat down at a table between his attorneys, a court employee asked him: “How do you plead to this indictment, sir?”

He leaned forward and said into a microphone: “Not guilty.”

Mangione’s defense attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, told the judge that her client is innocent until proven guilty and that she is “very concerned” about his right to a fair trial. She said the NYPD’s “perp walk” of her client when he arrived in New York City last week was “perfectly choreographed,” and the public spectacle around his procession before the cameras and the press exceeded any she had witnessed in her career. She also said there was no reason for officers who were present that day to be carrying assault rifles.

“I submit there is zero law enforcement objective to do that sort of perp walk,” the defense lawyer said. “There is absolutely no need for that.”

Friedman Agnifilo went on to criticize Mayor Eric Adams, who met Mangione at the heliport and said later that he wanted to “look him in the eye.”

“The mayor should know more than anyone about the presumption of innocence,” Friedman Agnifilo said, adding that the mayor didn’t use the word “alleged” when accusing him of carrying out a terrorist attack. She said Adams' presence at the helipad was meant to detract from his own criminal case and noted that potential jurors may have voted for Adams.

Adams' press secretary, Kayla Mamelak Altus, said in a statement that the "cold-blooded assassination" has been "sickeningly glorified, shining a spotlight on the darkest corners of the internet.""Critics can say all they want, but showing up to support our law enforcement and sending the message to New Yorkers that violence and vitriol have no place in our city is who Mayor Eric Adams is to his core," she said. The NYPD did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Justice Gregory Carro said he has little control over what happens outside the courtroom but assured the defense attorney that there would be a fair trial inside the courtroom and that jurors would be carefully selected. He also asked prosecutors to quickly share evidence with Mangione’s lawyers.

Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann there are so many materials to turn over, including thousands of hours of video, but that prosecutors would do their best to expedite the process.

Mangione is being held in jail while he awaits trial, though officials are still working out whether he’ll remain in state or federal custody, Seidemann said. He said federal officials have agreed to let the state case move forward first.

The U.S. attorney’s office filed a criminal complaint last week accusing Mangione of murder with a firearm, another firearms offense and stalking. The federal office said officials found a notebook with his plans to target the insurance industry and a letter addressed “To the Feds” in which he wrote that he was acting alone. A federal charge of murder with a firearm makes Mangione eligible for the death penalty.

Friedman Agnifilo said in court Monday that the state and federal cases have “conflicting theories” and that the two jurisdictions are treating her client “like a human ping pong ball.”

“They are literally treating him like he is some kind of political fodder,” she said.

This story has been updated with more detail about Monday's court proceedings and a comment from Mayor Adams's press secretary.