Judge reveals Luigi Mangione will pursue psychiatric defense in UnitedHealthcare CEO assassination case
Luigi Mangione's defense team plans to argue he suffered extreme emotional disturbance during the alleged UnitedHealthcare CEO murder, judge says.
Accused UnitedHealthcare CEO assassin Luigi Mangione will use a psychiatric defense for his state murder trial, a judge said during Wednesday's hearing.
Judge Gregory Carro said during a hearing on Wednesday that Mangione's defense team has told him that they plan to show he was suffering from "extreme emotional disturbance at the time of the occurrence" at the time of the alleged murder.
If a jury found Mangione, 28, was emotionally disturbed when UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was killed, he could instead be found guilty of manslaughter rather than murder, reducing the time he's sentenced to prison.
Wednesday's revelation from Carro came two weeks after a secret hearing on the matter was held at Mangione's defense team's request.
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"The reasons for the sealing was to give the defense an opportunity to determine whether they were going forth with that defense and the nature of that defense," Carro said.
Carro also ordered that records relating to Mangione's possible mental defects be unsealed, including any expert assessments of his mental state. He said that necessary redactions will be made, but the information surrounding it will be unsealed.
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Mangione's lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, said the unsealing of materials related to his psychiatric defense and the secret hearing's transcript will harm him in the federal case.
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"The reason why we asked for the sealing is that this defense is not available federally and Mr. Mangione is being prosecuted federally and this is prejudicial to his defense to the exact same facts," Friedman Agnifilo said.
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While prosecutors said they haven't received enough information about Mangione's alleged emotional disturbance, Carro ordered Mangione's defense to provide that information on Sept. 8.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to both state and federal charges after allegedly killing Thompson outside the New York Hilton Midtown. His state trial is slated to begin on Sept. 8, while the federal trial will begin on Oct. 13.
This is a developing story. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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