In court today
• Mangione to appear in federal court: Luigi Mangione could plead guilty as soon as today to federal criminal charges tied to the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, people familiar with the matter said. A hastily scheduled hearing is set for 11 a.m. ET at the joint request of prosecutors and the defense.
• Talks remain fluid: Plea negotiations are ongoing between Mangione’s attorneys and federal prosecutors, but sources caution that nothing is final until it’s announced in court.
• State trial: Mangione’s state trial is due to begin next month, and he briefly appeared in state court earlier this week for a final pretrial conference. Mangione previously pleaded not guilty in both his federal and state cases.
How the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO unfolded in 2024
Luigi Mangione is facing charges related to the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside the New York Hilton Midtown hotel in December 2024.
Thompson walked toward the Hilton that morning after leaving his own hotel for his company’s annual investor conference, when prosecutors say Mangione came up behind him and shot him in the back.
Here’s how things unfolded, according to law enforcement sources, official police releases, surveillance images and social media records.
November 24, 2024:
- Mangione arrives in New York at the Port Authority bus terminal at 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue via a bus that originated in Atlanta. He checked into a hostel.
December 4, 2024:
- 5:41 a.m. to 6:17 a.m. — Mangione is seen wandering around the vicinity of the New York Hilton Midtown, before heading toward a Starbucks. Images from Starbucks show him buying a bottle of water and two energy bars roughly 30 minutes before the shooting, according to a law enforcement official.
- 6:44 a.m. — The gunman comes up behind Thompson near the hotel and shoots him in the back, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said. He walks toward Thompson and continues to shoot, stopping to clear a gun jam before firing again.
- 6:48 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. — Mangione is seen riding an electric bike into Central Park at 60th Street, according to Kenny, and then later getting into a cab. He’s then seen entering a bus station, setting off a five-day manhunt.
December 9, 2024:
- Police officers in Altoona, Pennsylvania, are dispatched to a McDonald’s restaurant after an employee tipped off police about someone resembling photos of the suspect widely distributed by New York City police, and Mangione is taken into custody.
A plea would be the latest barb in a turf battle between state and federal prosecutors
A guilty plea from Luigi Mangione in his federal case — on the eve of his state murder trial — would represent another barb in the turf battle between the jurisdictions that has permeated the case from its outset.
After Mangione was arrested on December 9, 2024, in Altoona, Pennsylvania, he agreed to be extradited to New York to face state charges. But while Mangione was in transit to New York to be arraigned before a state judge, US prosecutors announced their own criminal complaint charging him in federal court.
Mangione arrived in Lower Manhattan, stepped off a helicopter and walked, surrounded by federal agents, down a long pier. He was then whisked to federal court for his first appearance and has been held in federal custody ever since.
State prosecutors have asserted their trial should go first. When it comes to double jeopardy, the effect of the first trial would have on the second has remained an open question.
“They will not be happy about it,” he added.
Hasty federal hearing comes as Mangione’s state trial fast approaches
Prosecutors and attorneys for Luigi Mangione filed a letter Tuesday afternoon requesting a hearing in his federal case specifically for the end of the week.
The letter hit the docket just hours after Mangione appeared in state court Tuesday morning. The parties appeared to be operating full steam ahead, discussing logistics for the trial slated for next month.
The state court judge adjourned the short hearing, thought to be the final pretrial conference, telling the parties he’d see everyone for the start of jury selection on September 8.
Brian Thompson's family is expected to attend today's hearing
Members of Brian Thompson’s family and executives from UnitedHealthcare are expected to attend the hearing, sources tell CNN.
No members of Luigi Mangione’s family are expected to be there, the same sources said.
Mangione’s family has not attended any of his court hearings so far.
How a McDonald's employee ended a 5-day manhunt, resulting in Luigi Mangione's arrest
Police responded to the McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after a manager called 911 to report one of the patrons looked like the suspect in the recent CEO shooting in New York.
Bodycam footage shows two officers approaching Luigi Mangione, who was sitting in a corner of the restaurant with a plastic bag and brown paper bag on the table in front of him. A black backpack was on the ground near his feet, the police testified at a previous hearing.
When the officers asked Mangione for identification, he told them his name was Mark Rosario and handed them a fake New Jersey driver’s license bearing that name, they testified. Prosecutors say the shooting suspect used a New Jersey license with the same name to check into a Manhattan hostel days before the killing.
About 20 minutes later, after police warned him against using a false name, he told them his real name was Luigi Mangione.
Shortly after, a police officer read Mangione his Miranda rights before he was frisked and handcuffed behind his back.
Police began searching his backpack on a table at the restaurant and removed a loaded magazine wrapped in a pair of underwear, as well as a Faraday bag — which blocks cell signals — containing a passport, a phone and a wallet.
The key evidence investigators found in Mangione's backpack
Evidence photos from Luigi Mangione’s arrest
Luigi Mangione was taken into custody at a McDonald’s restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on December 9, 2024. During that arrest, police found various items in Mangione’s black backpack that are key pieces of evidence in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson.
In the backpack was a loaded magazine wrapped in a pair of underwear as well as a Faraday bag — which blocks cell signals — containing a passport, a phone and a wallet.
The bag also contained multiple articles of clothing, toiletry items, a silencer and a 3D-printed gun. The District Attorney’s Office said the weapon matches ballistic evidence from the Manhattan crime scene.
Police also found handwritten entries from a red notebook that the District Attorney’s Office has described as a “manifesto” expressing frustration with the healthcare industry.
His DNA and fingerprints were recovered from several items discarded by the shooter near the crime scene, prosecutors said in court documents.
Judge Gregory Carro ruled in May that prosecutors in the upcoming state trial can use the gun and a red notebook with handwritten entries at trial. But items found during the initial search at the McDonald’s — including a loaded magazine, passport, wallet, cell phone and computer chip — will be excluded, after the defense argued the bag was searched without a warrant.
What a plea in Mangione's federal case could mean for the state trial
This morning’s federal hearing was hastily scheduled following the final pre-trial hearing Tuesday in Luigi Mangione’s state case. That trial is scheduled to begin next month with jury selection.
A federal plea — which could come as soon as today, people familiar with the matter said — would likely raise questions about whether the state prosecution moves forward, although the immediate impact is unclear.
If Mangione were to plead guilty to federal charges, his attorneys would likely aim to strike a deal that would give them strong legal standing to argue the state case should be dismissed on double jeopardy grounds, lawyers say.
State prosecutors have accused Mangione’s lawyers of trying to get that case thrown out on double jeopardy grounds under New York State law, which says a defendant can’t be tried twice for the same crime.
Who was UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson?
Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, who was fatally shot in Midtown Manhattan in December 2024 in what New York police called a “brazen, targeted attack,” was a longtime leader in corporate America — and he had been caught up in a high-profile insider trading lawsuit.
Thompson, 50, lived in Minnesota and was visiting New York for UnitedHealthcare’s annual investors conference before he was killed.
Here’s what to know:
- Career: Thompson was appointed chief executive of UnitedHealthcare in 2021 and had been at the company since 2004. Before being named chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, Thompson worked as CEO of the company’s government programs business, which includes its Medicare and retirement businesses. UnitedHealthcare is part of UnitedHealth Group, America’s largest insurance company.
- Education: Thompson graduated from the University of Iowa in 1997 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a major in accounting. He graduated as valedictorian, according to his LinkedIn. He was a Collegiate Scholar, Carver Scholar, State of Iowa Scholar and Faculty Scholar. Thompson graduated from South Hamilton High School in Jewell, Iowa, in 1993.
- Allegations of fraud: In May 2024, Thompson was sued for alleged fraud and illegal insider trading. The Hollywood Firefighters’ Pension Fund filed a lawsuit against UnitedHealth Group, CEO Andrew Witty, Executive Chairman Stephen Hemsley and Thompson, alleging the executives schemed to inflate the company’s stock by failing to disclose a US Justice Department antitrust investigation into the company. The lawsuit claimed Thompson knew about the investigation as early as October 2023 and sold 31% of his company shares.
CNN’s Kara Scannell contributed to this report.
Mangione due in federal court today as sources say he may be considering a guilty plea
Luigi Mangione is due in federal court today after both parties hastily called for an appearance earlier this week without any clear explanation.Though it is unclear what is in store, people familiar with the matter say plea negotiations are underway and Mangione could plead guilty as soon as today.
Plea negotiations are ongoing between Mangione’s attorneys and federal prosecutors, but sources familiar with the discussions have cautioned that talks remain fluid, and nothing is final until it’s announced in court.
US District Judge Margaret Garnett will need to sign off on any plea agreement. A lawyer for Mangione and a spokesman for the US attorney’s office both declined to comment.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to both state and federal charges connected to the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024.
- In the Southern District of New York, Mangione faces federal stalking charges connected to Thompson’s killing.
- In the state case, he faces second-degree murder and weapons charges.
State prosecutors have accused Mangione’s lawyers of trying to get that case thrown out on double jeopardy grounds under New York State law, which says a defendant can’t be tried twice for the same crime. A federal plea would likely raise questions about whether the state prosecution moves forward, although the immediate impact is unclear.
The 28-year-old has gained cult-like support on social media and in court. Many of his supporters harbor deep frustration and anger at the American for-profit healthcare system.
Just weeks from now, Mangione is slated to begin his state murder trial, which is expected to draw such massive public interest that the court has planned overflow seating for media and the public.
Mangione discussed pleading guilty in federal case earlier this summer, CNN reported
In June, CNN reported Luigi Mangione’s attorneys spoke with federal prosecutors about a potential plea deal. The discussions, which are not unusual in any serious federal case, did not result in an agreement, the source familiar with the discussions said at the time.
Mangione’s lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo batted down the media reports of plea talks at the time.
“Every defendant in America is presumed innocent until proven guilty, including Luigi, who, unlike any other defendant, has to fight the same charges twice,” she said, referring to both the state and federal charges filed against her client.
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