Luigi Mangione’s lawyers withdrew a plan for a psychiatric defense at his upcoming state murder trial in the shooting death of a UnitedHealth Group Inc. executive.
In a letter to New York state Judge Gregory Carro on Thursday, the defense team said they will withdraw the psychiatric defense. A day earlier, at a hearing in Manhattan, Carro said Mangione’s defense would seek to show he suffered from an extreme emotional disturbance.
Mangione is accused of fatally shooting Brian Thompson outside a midtown hotel in December 2024. He’s pleaded not guilty.
Mangione’s lawyers had notified the judge last September they would pursue such a defense, Carro said Wednesday during the hearing. The judge had held closed hearings and sealed documents related to the defense. They will remain sealed for now, the judge said Thursday.
A lawyer for Mangione had no immediate comment. A spokesman for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office is prosecuting the case, didn’t immediately return an email about the move.
Mangione is charged with second-degree murder in the case that captured national headlines both for Thompson’s killing and a manhunt that ended days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Despite the horrific nature of the crime, Mangione has become a folk hero for many who say he expressed their rage at the health-care system.
The extreme emotional disturbance defense is available to New York murder cases, and if successful, it could lead to a defendant facing reduced charges, such as manslaughter.
Copyright 2026 Bloomberg.
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