Mangione’s US Guilty Plea Should Not Bar State Trial, DA Says

Luigi Mangione should still face a New York state murder trial even after he pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the fatal shooting of UnitedHealth Group Inc. executive Brian Thompson, Manhattan prosecutors said Friday.

Prosecutors said that the federal stalking charges, which Mangione pleaded guilty to in August, have “nothing to do” with the murder case he faces in state court. The filing is in response to Mangione’s lawyers’ claims that the state case should be dismissed because of the legal concept known as double jeopardy.

They are “different harms, different evils, different purposes, different crimes,” Manhattan state prosecutor Joel Seidemann told a New York state judge Friday, adding that New York state law “permits the continued prosecution of defendant’s state murder charge.”

Mangione, 28, pleaded guilty in federal court in August to two counts of stalking, admitting that he shot Thompson outside an investor conference at a midtown Manhattan hotel in 2024. On the day of his plea, his lawyers filed a motion in state court, arguing the US Constitution and New York state law prohibit prosecuting someone twice for the same act, or double jeopardy.

Read More: Mangione Pleads Guilty in US Case, Tries to Stop Murder Trial

A spokeswoman for Mangione’s legal team cited prior arguments his defense lawyers made.

“From the day of his arrest on December 9, 2024, Luigi Mangione has been a pawn in parallel prosecutions pursued by the New York County District Attorney’s Office and the United States Department of Justice,” his lawyers said in their Aug. 14 motion to dismiss the state case. “We are unaware of a single other case with this combination of circumstances in the history of prosecutions in this country.”

Thompson’s slaying triggered a massive investigation by both federal and New York City authorities, leading to a turf battle and two separate criminal cases against Mangione.

In the state case, Mangione faces 25 years to life in prison, which may be in addition to whatever sentence which is imposed by US District Judge Margaret Garnett in December. Manhattan US Attorney Jamie McDonald has said the US would seek a life sentence.