Luigi Mangione admitted in court on Friday that he fatally shot health insurance executive Brian Thompson and pleaded guilty to two federal charges of stalking the CEO with the intent to kill him.
“I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan and he died,” Mangione said. He wore beige prison garb and spoke clearly and calmly as he read from a prepared statement laced with criticism of the U.S. health insurance system.
Thompson’s widow sat in the front row of the gallery with other members of his family. When Mangione admitted to shooting Thompson, she choked up while two women seated next to her comforted her.
The guilty plea will avert a federal trial in the closely watched case over the killing of the 50-year-old UnitedHealthcare CEO, a brazen crime that was condemned by public officials but became emblematic of Americans’ frustration with health insurance industry practices.
Mangione, 28, entered his plea without a deal with federal prosecutors, and there was no guarantee that taking responsibility would result in any leniency at sentencing. Prosecutors said they would seek a sentence of life in prison — the maximum allowable — at his sentencing on December 18.
U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett is allowed to consider Mangione’s decision to plead guilty as a mitigating factor when determining his punishment.
The federal guilty plea also allowed Mangione’s lawyers to file a motion to dismiss separate state murder and weapons charges ahead of a trial in that case, arguing that he should not have to be punished for the same conduct twice under New York’s law prohibiting double jeopardy.
Jamie McDonald, the Manhattan U.S. Attorney, said his office had made no accommodations or concessions to Mangione.
“No grievance or ideological cause can ever justify murder,” McDonald told reporters.
Thompson’s family said in a statement that the plea marked an “important step toward justice.”
“We look to the court to ensure that sentencing reflects the severity of this crime,” Thompson’s family said.