Luigi Mangione Pleads Guilty in Federal Case Luigi Mangione pleads guilty to federal charges as his defense attorneys move aggressively to dismiss state murder charges in New York. Former prosecutor Nancy Grace joins ‘Fox & Friends Weekend’ to discuss the legal maneuvering surrounding the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Luigi Mangione’s lawyers are doubling down on their double jeopardy defense in their fight to get the admitted killer off murder charges in New York after admitting to what they say was essentially the same crime in federal court. Murder is the same evil as lying in wait with the intent to kill and then killing, they argued. UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a 50-year-old father of two who was shot in the back by Mangione outside a Hilton hotel in the middle of the Big Apple. THE WIDOW OF MURDERED UNITEDHEALTHCARE CEO BRIAN THOMPSON MEETS FACE TO FACE WITH LUIGI MANGIONE FOR THE FIRST TIME Luigi Mangione appears in Manhattan Supreme Court for a hearing in the murder case brought against him for killing UHC Brian Thompson on September 16, 2025. (Curtis Means for DailyMail/Pool) Prosecutors have said that since Mangione was not prosecuted for federal firearms crimes, there is no double jeopardy if state level crimes remain on the table. They argued that the murder charges should still move forward because, although Mangione admitted to killing Thompson, that is not the same “harm or wrong” involved in the federal stalking charges. And they argued that although Mangione withdrew a potential “extreme emotional disturbance” defense specific to the Empire State law, that doesn’t mean the federal case prevented him from using it. Mangione’s lawyers, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, Marc Agnifilo and Jacob Kaplan, attacked all three arguments in a response made public over the weekend. The defense’s response: First, they argued that although the federal firearms charges were dismissed, he was still “on trial” for them, putting him at risk of double jeopardy. “The legal definition of being ‘indicted’ for a crime does not require the defendant to plead guilty to that specific crime,” Mangione’s attorneys wrote. CASE His client pleaded guilty to two federal charges, although he had initially faced more. FOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME TEAM ON A member of the New York Police Department’s Crime Scene Unit takes a photograph of a shell casing found at the scene where UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, December 4, 2024. (REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton) SIGN UP FOR THE LATEST TRUE CRIME NEWS They also argued that stalking Thompson with the intent to kill him is the same “gross misconduct” as murdering him. To get around New York’s double jeopardy law, which is more restrictive than the U.S. Constitution, prosecutors must show that state charges are intended to prevent “harm or evil” other than the federal ones to which you have already pleaded guilty. He was assassinated on December 4, 2024, outside a Manhattan hotel, while addressing a shareholder conference. The suspect, Luigi Mangione, is pictured on the right in court. (Businesswire, Steven Hirsch for New York Post via Pool) “One of the harms clearly addressed by the broad federal stalking statute is stalking with intent to kill that results in the murder of the harassed person,” Mangione’s attorneys wrote. “It’s a statute that, like a state murder statute, is intended to keep people safe from being murdered — the oldest crime in existence.” LUIGI MANGIONE TEAM RESPONDS TO DECLARATION REPORT, CALLS THREATS TO A FAIR TRIAL They argued that while the federal stalking charge includes other elements, including interstate travel and the use of electronic communications, they are “unrelated” to the central evil of the crime, which is killing someone. ADVICE? Luigi Mangione appears in Manhattan Supreme Court for a hearing in the murder case brought against him for killing UHC Brian Thompson on September 16, 2025. (Curtis Means for DailyMail/Pool) MANHATTAN DA’S OFFICE SAYS LUIGI MANGIONE’S DEFENSE SPREAD FALSE CLAIMS ABOUT MURDER TRIAL MEDIA PLAN “The trips and electronics are not the evils or damages that are prevented,” they wrote. “However, the federal government has an interest in preventing people from [traveling] or using electronic devices as part of the crime of killing another person, or intending to do so. That’s what makes the stalking statute similar to the murder statute in terms of the evils or harms they both seek to prevent.” LISTEN TO THE NEW PODCAST ‘CRIME AND JUSTICE WITH DONNA ROTUNNO’ Mangione’s attorneys are asking Judge Gregory Carro to dismiss the state charges. THE FOX NEWS APP Fox News’ Jennifer Johnson and Maria Paronich contributed to this report.
