By Jack Queen and Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Luigi Mangione, the man accused of fatally shooting health insurance executive Brian Thompson on a Manhattan street, pleaded not guilty on Monday to murder charges in New York state that brand him a terrorist.
Mangione, 26, was escorted into Judge Gregory Carro’s 13th-floor courtroom in New York State Criminal Court in lower Manhattan with a judicial officer on each arm and a procession of a half-dozen officers following him. He was handcuffed and shackled, and was wearing a burgundy sweater over a white collared shirt.
Mangione leaned into a microphone and said “not guilty” when asked how he pleaded guilty to the 11-count indictment, which includes three counts of murder, including murder as an act of terrorism.
If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Last Thursday, Mangione was transferred from Pennsylvania to New York after deciding not to oppose extradition. A large phalanx of police officers and New York City Mayor Eric Adams plucked him from a helicopter in lower Manhattan.
That spectacle and other statements by public officials suggest Mangione may not be able to get a fair trial, his lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo said at the hearing.
“They’re treating it like it’s some kind of political fodder, some kind of spectacle,” Agnifilo said. “He is not a symbol, he is someone who is granted the right to a fair trial.”
Monday’s arraignment was the second court appearance in New York for Mangione, 26.
He was arrested at a McDonald’s (NYSE 🙂) restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, five days after the brazen pre-dawn Dec. 4 murder of Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealth Group’s (NYSE 🙂) UnitedHealthcare insurance unit, outside a hotel. in midtown Manhattan, where the company was meeting for an investor conference.
Mangione also faces a four-count federal criminal complaint accusing him of stalking and killing Thompson. He has not yet been asked to plead guilty to those charges. Federal Judge Katharine Parker ordered Mangione detained in a Dec. 19 filing on those charges.
‘DENY, DEFEND, DEPOSE’
More than two dozen members of the public sat in the courtroom hearing where Mangione was introduced.
A small group of protesters had gathered outside the lower Manhattan courthouse in frigid temperatures to express their support for Mangione and their anger toward health care companies.
One person held a sign that read “DENY, DEFEND, DEPOSE,” the words police say were found etched into bullet casings at the crime scene. The words echo tactics some insurers use to avoid paying claims.
While Thompson’s murder has been condemned by public officials, Mangione has been hailed as a folk hero by some Americans who denounce the high costs of health care and the power insurance companies have to deny payment for some medical treatments. .
The federal charges would make him eligible for the death penalty, should the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan decide to pursue it.
The separate federal and state cases will proceed in parallel. The state case is currently expected to go to trial first, federal prosecutors said.
Mangione’s lead attorney, Friedman Agnifilo, said at the federal court hearing that the two sets of charges appeared to be based on conflicting theories. State charges accuse Mangione of attempting to “intimidate or coerce a civilian population” and influence politics, while federal charges accuse him of stalking and killing an individual.
Friedman Agnifilo said the two cases seemed completely different and asked prosecutors to clarify whether both would continue. U.S. Attorney Dominic Gentile said Thursday’s initial appearance was not the appropriate time to address those legal arguments.
According to the federal criminal complaint, police who arrested Mangione found a notebook containing several handwritten pages that “express hostility toward the health insurance industry and toward wealthy executives in particular.”
A notebook entry dated Oct. 22 allegedly described an intention to “outwit” the CEO of an insurance company at his investor conference.