Luigi Mangione to face state charges over UnitedHealthcare CEO murder

Luigi Mangione, the man accused of fatally shooting the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, is set to be arraigned in a Manhattan court on Monday on murder and terror charges in a state case that will run parallel to his federal prosecution.

Mangione, 26, was formally charged last week by the Manhattan district attorney with multiple counts of murder, including murder as an act of terrorism. His hearing in New York State Supreme Court on Monday will follow an initial appearance in the same court last week on a federal criminal complaint charging Mangione over the shooting.

The federal charges could lead to the death penalty, while the maximum sentence for the state charges is life in prison without parole. Prosecutors have said the two cases will proceed on parallel tracks, with the state charges expected to go to trial first.

US authorities say Mangione gunned down UnitedHealthcare’s CEO Brian Thompson as he was walking to an investor conference in midtown Manhattan on 4 December.

Mangione was arrested in a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania after a five-day manhunt, carrying a gun that matched the one used in the shooting and a fake ID, police said. He also was carrying a notebook expressing hostility toward the health insurance industry and especially wealthy executives, according to federal prosecutors.

At a news conference announcing the state charges last week, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the application of the terrorism law reflected the severity of a “frightening, well-planned, targeted murder that was intended to cause shock and attention and intimidation”.

“In its most basic terms, this was a killing that was intended to evoke terror,” he added. “And we’ve seen that reaction.”

Karen Friedman Agnifilo, an attorney for Mangione, has accused federal and state prosecutors of advancing conflicting legal theories. In federal court last week, she called their approach “very confusing” and “highly unusual”.

Mangione was extradited from Pennsylvania on Thursday and quickly rushed to New York, where he was seen wearing an orange jumpsuit as he was led away from a helicopter by heavily armed police officers and New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

Adams said he was hoping to send a message to the suspect: “I wanted to look him in the eye and say you carried out this terroristic act in my city — the city that the people of New York love,” the mayor told a local TV station. “I wanted to be there to show the symbolism of that.”

An Ivy-league graduate from a prominent Maryland family, Mangione appeared to have isolated himself in recent months. He posted frequently in online forums about his struggles with back pain. He was never a UnitedHealthcare client, the insurer has said.

Thompson, a married father of two high-schoolers, had worked at the giant UnitedHealth Group for 20 years and became CEO of its insurance arm in 2021.

The killing has prompted many Americans to voice their resentment at US health insurers, with Mangione serving as a stand-in for frustrations over coverage denials and hefty medical bills.

It also has sent shockwaves through the corporate world, rattling executives who say they have received a spike in death threats in recent weeks.