LUIGI MANGIONE PLEADS GUILTY TO STALKING BRIAN THOMPSON
Luigi Mangione, 28, pleaded guilty on August 14, 2026, to two federal stalking counts in the December 2024 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and told a judge, “I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan and he died.” The charges centered on stalking Thompson with intent to kill him, Reuters reported.
The counts were interstate stalking resulting in death and cyberstalking through use of interstate facilities resulting in death. Each carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, the Justice Department said.
U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Garnett accepted the plea. Asked how he pleaded, Mangione answered “Guilty,” according to Reuters. CNN reported he also told the court, “I knew what I was doing was illegal.”
Thompson was shot outside the New York Hilton Midtown on December 4, 2024, while in town for UnitedHealthcare’s annual investor conference.
No deal, and a possible life sentence
There was no plea agreement with federal prosecutors and no agreed sentencing range, Reuters and CNN reported. The plea means there will be no federal trial. Prosecutors said they would seek a life sentence, according to Reuters.
Garnett told Mangione the maximum was life. The New York Times reported she also told him to expect to serve at least 85 percent of any sentence she imposes. She is not bound to hand down the maximum, Reuters reported.
CNN reported that Mangione said he researched the location and attendees of the investor conference and posed as an investor to learn information about it. Federal prosecutors described security footage they said showed him arriving in New York and following Thompson around Midtown in the days before the shooting.
Thompson’s widow and other relatives were in the courtroom. CNN correspondent Kara Scannell described the widow as “breathing heavily, clasping the arm of the woman sitting next to her.” Family members gasped when a prosecutor said Thompson was aware of what was happening between the first and second bullets.
“Today, Luigi Mangione admitted to stalking and murdering Brian Thompson on a Manhattan street in broad daylight,” U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald said in the Justice Department’s announcement.
Mangione’s lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, said he had accepted “full responsibility for the death of Brian Thompson.” She also argued he was being prosecuted twice for the same conduct.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch called the day “an important moment of accountability.” A UnitedHealth Group spokesperson said the company was “grateful to law enforcement for bringing Brian’s murderer to justice.”
Former federal prosecutor Berit Berger told CNN it was “very likely” the judge would impose life imprisonment or something close to it. That was her assessment, not a court ruling.
The state case
Mangione had pleaded not guilty in both the federal and New York cases before changing his federal plea. The state indictment includes a second-degree murder count, weapons counts and a forged-instrument count. A judge had earlier dismissed the top terror-related murder counts and another weapons charge.
The same day as the plea, his defense filed a motion to dismiss the state murder and weapons charges under New York’s double-jeopardy protections. “We just filed our motion in state court explaining why the state charges must be dismissed under New York’s double jeopardy protections,” Agnifilo said after the hearing.
CNN legal analyst Elliot Williams said New York’s law could be broader than the federal constitutional protection, because it bars prosecution of crimes arising from the same criminal transaction. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said it was “prepared to litigate the defense motions.”
State jury selection had been set for September 8, 2026, but CNN later reported the trial was effectively postponed while the motions are resolved. Judge Gregory Carro ordered prosecutors to respond and set the next hearing for December 10.
On October 9, 2026, Manhattan prosecutors formally opposed the bid to dismiss the state indictment, and ABC News reported a judge is expected to rule in December. Mangione remains in federal custody, with sentencing scheduled for December 18, 2026.
