Luigi Mangione withdraws his psychiatric defense: unexpected turn one day after the announcement in the trial for the murder of Brian Thompson

In a surprise legal twist, Luigi Mangione's lawyers informed Judge Gregory Carro on June 18, 2026 that they were withdrawing the psychiatric defense they had announced just 24 hours earlier in the state trial for the murder of Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare. The single-line notification arrived on the same day that the defense was to hand over the defendant's psychiatric records to the Manhattan prosecutor's office. Mangione, 28, pleads not guilty to the shooting that killed Thompson on December 4, 2024 on the street in Midtown, in front of a hotel where the UnitedHealth Group investor conference was being held.

«The defense respectfully withdraws CPL § 250.10 notice at this time.»

What did the defense mean that they will no longer use

On Wednesday June 17, the defense had told the court that it would invoke the concept of extreme emotional disturbance provided for in New York criminal law. If a jury were to accept it after a conviction, the first-degree murder charge could be downgraded to first-degree manslaughter, with a potentially lesser penalty. According to the transcript of a secret hearing from June 3, released on Thursday, lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo admitted that this strategy would imply, in practice, acknowledging that Mangione committed the crime with extenuating circumstances — a move incompatible with his declaration of innocence and risky for the federal trial, where that defense does not exist.

amNewYork and AP News emphasize that the defense had asked to keep the psychiatric evaluations under seal precisely because the federal process—by interstate stalking and other charges—will be tried on the same facts and an implied admission in the state could prejudice the federal jury.

The crime that shocked the US

Thompson, a 46-year-old father of two, was shot from behind on the morning of December 4, 2024 while walking to the New York Hilton Midtown. Cameras captured a masked man fleeing on a bicycle. The words «delay», «deny» and «depose» — a nod to the jargon used by industry critics to describe how insurers avoid paying claims. The case sparked a national debate about the health care system and turned Mangione, arrested days later at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, into a polarizing figure.

Admitted evidence and current charges

Judge Carro has allowed a 3D printed gun and a notebook to be used in the state trial that, according to the prosecution, link Mangione to the crime and describe plans against health insurance executives. In May, Carro validated part of the evidence seized at the Altoona police station, although he deleted elements from a backpack searched without a warrant in the restaurant, according to judicial documentation collected by media such as BBC.

In September 2025, Carro dismissed two charges of terrorism in the state case, considering that the prosecution did not demonstrate that the act sought to intimidate the public. At the federal level, Judge Margaret Garnett withdrew in January 2026 the charges that could carry the death penalty; Mangione no longer faces that possibility.

What remains open

The withdrawal of the psychiatric defense does not publicly explain the reason for the change: the document does not include justification. Carro ordered that transcripts, emails and documents linked to the discarded strategy remain under seal, although some of the material had already circulated among the media before the reversal, according to AP. Mangione is no longer required to turn over his psychiatric records to Manhattan prosecutors.

With less than three months until the state trial, the question is what route the defense will take: maintain the denial of the facts and question the evidence? Seek another mitigation plea? The case continues to be one of the most followed criminal proceedings in the United States, with international echo due to the victim — a senior executive of the largest health conglomerate in the country — and due to the social debate that the crime sparked.