Luigi Mangione pleaded not guilty April 25 on federal murder charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, NBC News reported.
The day prior, federal prosecutors filed their official notice of intent to pursue the death penalty, writing that Mr. Mangione “elected to murder Thompson under these circumstances to amplify an ideological message, maximize the visibility and impact of the victim’s murder, and to provoke broad-based resistance to the victim’s industry.”
The defendant was indicted by a federal grand jury on April 17 on four charges related to the killing, including two counts of stalking, one count of murder through use of a firearm and a firearms offense for an allegation that he used a silencer.
Mr. Mangione is alleged to have fatally shot Mr. Thompson on Dec. 4 outside of the New York Hilton Midtown, where UnitedHealth Group was hosting its annual investor day conference. Mr. Thompson, 50, was named CEO of UnitedHealthcare in April 2021. He first joined Minnetonka, Minn.-based UnitedHealth Group in 2004 and held numerous leadership positions across the company.
“By seeking to murder Luigi Mangione, the Justice Department has moved from the dysfunctional to the barbaric,” Mr. Mangione’s lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo said in a previous statement.
Mr. Mangione is also facing state murder charges in New York.
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