Posted originally on CTH on August 14, 2026 | sundance
Many people saw the cold murder of CEO Brian Thompson carried out by Luigi Mangione on the street in New York City. Mangione was facing state and federal charges related to the assassination. Today, Mangione pled guilty to two federal counts of stalking Thompson.
I’m not sure if this is some scheme by his defense attorneys to avoid the state murder charge; it seems like it is. According to the defense, Mangione cannot be charged by federal and state court for the same crime; therefore, a guilty plea to the federal crime of stalking looks like it is being used as an escape mechanism from the state charge of murder.
What is super creepy about this case is the amount of support Mangione has for the murder. There is a remarkable and unnerving amount of online support for him, despite his cold-blooded killing of Brian Thompson.
NEW YORK – Luigi Mangione, whose coldblooded killing of an insurance executive on a Manhattan sidewalk rattled the nation and struck fear into corporate America, pleaded guilty Friday to two federal stalking charges for the death of UnitedHealthcare leader Brian Thompson.
“On the morning of Dec. 4, 2024, I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan and he died,” Mangione solemnly told the judge during a court hearing.
Mangione, wearing tan jail garb, told the judge that he spent years enduring severe pain, including a broken back, and witnessed others with similar experiences. He said that after learning of an investor conference, he emailed UnitedHealthcare, posing as an investor at a firm managing over $50 million in assets, to request information about it.
“Unlike my previous interactions with insurers, I received an immediate response within an hour,” Mangione added. He said he made part of a gun using a 3-D printer and planned the killing.
U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett said Mangione faces up to life in prison at his sentencing, which she set for December. Jamie McDonald, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said after Friday’s hearing that his office intended to seek the maximum penalty, saying Mangione committed the crime in order to “draw public attention to his dislike of certain businesses.”
“No grievance, political belief or ideological cause can ever justify murder,” McDonald said. “There can be no celebrity in assassination.”
Thompson’s family sat in the front row of the courtroom during the hearing. “Today’s guilty plea marks an important step toward justice for Brian and for our family,” the family said after the hearing. (read more)
