Luigi Mangione will make ‘extreme emotional disturbance’ defense at New York murder trial 

MANHATTAN (CN) — At his upcoming state murder trial in New York City, Luigi Mangione won’t necessarily be arguing that he wasn’t the shooter behind UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s 2024 killing. He’ll instead claim he was under “extreme emotional disturbance” when the incident took place, according to a state judge.

New York Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro made the announcement during a conference Wednesday for the state-level murder trial, set to kick off Sept. 9. He affirmed that Mangione will be arguing “extreme emotional disturbance at the time and place of occurrence.”

It’s a defense only available to murder defendants in New York. If argued successfully, a defendant can have a murder charge reduced to manslaughter, assuming the extreme emotional disturbance had a “reasonable explanation or excuse,” according to state law.

Unlike an insanity defense, a defendant arguing extreme emotional disturbance wouldn’t be sent to a psychiatric facility — they’d still be sentenced to prison time, just on a lesser charge. Mangione currently faces life in prison on his top count of second-degree murder. The maximum sentence for manslaughter in New York is 25 years.

Mangione’s lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, declined to answer questions about the specifics of the defense outside of court on Wednesday.

The revelation came two weeks after Carro and the parties held a sealed conference on the psychiatric defense. Agnifilo said in court that she had requested that meeting to be behind closed doors since the unique defense isn’t available in Mangione’s federal case, in which he is also charged in Thompson’s killing, set to go to trial in early 2027 — after his state case.

“It would have been very prejudicial” if that hearing were held publicly, Carro said Wednesday.

But now that Mangione is moving forward with defense, the judge said he will unseal the transcript of that conference, as well as other filings related to the psychiatric defense, “shortly.”

The conference, while brief, was contentious between the parties. As Mangione sat at the defense table, shackled in a blue suit, his lawyers sparred with prosecutors, who claimed they had been “stonewalled” by the defense over a lack of disclosure.

“We don’t know their expert, we don’t have the theory of the EED,” said Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann. He argued the prosecution can’t start working to thwart that defense until Mangione’s lawyers provide them with more information.

Carro agreed. He ordered the defense to turn over the name of their psychiatric expert and the specific “mental defect” Mangione purportedly suffered by Thursday at the latest.

“In order for them to go forward, they need to know what the malady is,” Carro said. “I’m not going to let you surprise the people on the eve of trial.”

The Wednesday conference was supposed to happen a day earlier. But it was delayed Tuesday after prosecutors admitted they failed to serve the paperwork required for Mangione’s appearance.

Mangione has been in federal custody in the Metropolitan Detention Center since his extradition to New York City in late 2024. State prosecutors are looking to transfer him to their custody in Rikers Island, a move that would cut down on logistical headaches in getting Mangione to his state court appearances.

This is especially relevant now that Mangione is making a psychiatric defense, which requires state prosecutors to conduct their own examinations of his mental health while in custody.

Mangione is accused of gunning down Thompson in an on-camera slaying on Dec. 4, 2024. Prosecutors say the act was motivated by Mangione’s apparent disdain for the for-profit healthcare industry. Handwritten notes recovered from Mangione after his arrest referenced wanting to “wack” a healthcare CEO on the eve of a “parasitic” investor conference.

Those notes will be admissible evidence at Mangione’s trial, Carro ruled last month. The judge did toss certain evidence that he found was unlawfully obtained, however, including a gun magazine, cellphone and passport.

Mangione faced an additional charge for possession of the magazine, which Carro agreed to toss on Wednesday in light of that ruling.

Follow @Uebey Follow @uebey.bsky.social