Luigi Mangione will assert a psychiatric defense in his state murder trial in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, the judge overseeing the case said at a hearing on Wednesday.
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If his attorneys are able to prove he was experiencing an extreme emotional disturbance at the time of the alleged killing, Mangione’s second-degree murder charge would be reduced to first-degree manslaughter if he’s convicted.
Mangione faces nine felony charges, including second-degree murder and several counts related to criminal possession of a weapon. If convicted in the New York case, he faces a possibility of life in prison.
New York State Judge Gregory Carro said he would be unsealing a notice from September regarding affirmative psychiatric defense and emotional disturbance at the time of the killing.
Carro said that the defense needs to submit additional documentation regarding the psychiatric defense no later than tomorrow.
“Despite the name, ‘extreme emotional disturbance’ isn’t an insanity defense, and it won’t get a defendant off the hook,” NBC News legal analyst Danny Cevallos said. “The person is still guilty of an intentional killing. All it does is lower the level of the crime, and the prison time that comes with it.”
But he went on to say that this is not an easy standard for a defendant to meet.
“To pull it off, though, the defense has to convince the jury, more likely than not, that the defendant was so overwhelmed that he lost control, and that there was a ‘reasonable explanation or excuse’ for feeling that way, seeing things the way he believed them to be at the time,” Cevallos said.
Mangione appeared in the courtroom on Wednesday wearing a dark navy suit and a button down shirt. He looked down and was handcuffed when he walked into the room.
He is accused in the fatal shooting of Thompson, 50, on the streets of New York City in December 2024.
A days-long manhunt for Thompson’s killer captivated the world and ended with Mangione’s arrest at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, where he was apprehended.
Mangione is also facing federal charges in New York and state charges in Pennsylvania in connection with the case. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him.
Carro ruled last month that prosecutors can use a gun and a red notebook found on Mangione during his arrest as evidence, rejecting the defense team’s argument that those items were seized illegally.
The next court hearing will be in August and it will be virtual. The trial is scheduled to begin on September 8.
CORRECTION (June 17, 2026 12:17 p.m. ET) A previous version of this article misstated the type of facility where Mangione would serve his sentence, if convicted under a psychiatric defense. It would be at a regular prison, not a psychiatric facility.
