Mangione set to plead guilty to federal charges Friday; state murder trial jury selection begins next month

Luigi Mangione is expected to plead guilty Friday in federal court to charges related to the December 2024 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, according to sources familiar with the matter and confirmed by reporting from NBC News, ABC News, and NPR. The hearing is scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday before U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett in the Southern District of New York. A federal guilty plea would come less than a month before jury selection in Mangione's separate state murder case begins on September 8.

Mangione, 28, is accused of allegedly shooting Thompson, 50, a father of two, as Thompson walked alone outside the Hilton Hotel in midtown Manhattan in December 2024, hours before UnitedHealthcare was set to host an investor conference at the hotel. Mangione was arrested at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after a multistate manhunt. Upon arrest, authorities confiscated a notebook that prosecutors say contained plans to kill Thompson and writings critical of the U.S. healthcare and insurance industries.

It is unclear which or how many of the two federal stalking-related charges Mangione will plead guilty to, according to NBC News. Sources stressed that plea negotiations are ongoing and that nothing is final until Mangione accepts or enters into a plea deal, and that he could conceivably decide against pleading guilty between now and Friday.

If convicted in the federal case, Mangione could face life in prison. The Justice Department initially sought the death penalty in the federal case, but U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett blocked the murder and firearm charges that would have made capital punishment an option in January. If Mangione pleads guilty to the remaining federal charges, his lawyers are expected to seek dismissal of some or all charges in the state case, according to NBC News and NPR reporting.

Mangione's defense has argued since the beginning of both cases that he is a victim of double jeopardy. Legal experts say a federal plea deal could limit or even derail efforts to try Mangione in state court on separate murder charges because New York state has especially strict rules limiting double-jeopardy prosecutions. In a letter sent last month to state Judge Gregory Carro, assistant Manhattan district attorney Joel Seidemann warned of possible complications if a federal plea deal is reached before a jury can hear the state case: "If a proposed federal guilty plea would operate to defeat a just outcome in the state prosecution, the people could advise the federal district court of that consequence, and the court should consider that fact in deciding whether to accept the plea, as well as any opposition by the victim's family to such a resolution." NBC News legal analyst Danny Cevallos noted that if a plea deal is reached in the federal case, New York law may bar a subsequent state prosecution for the same conduct.

To avoid legal bottleneck over double jeopardy, the Manhattan district attorney's office moved to hold Mangione's state trial first. In the state case, Mangione pleaded not guilty to murder in the second-degree, criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second-degree, and multiple counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second-degree, third-degree, and fourth-degree. Judge Gregory Carro dismissed first-degree murder and terrorism charges in the state case last September. If convicted in the state case, Mangione faces the possibility of life in prison. The federal trial was originally set for January 5.

Mangione has attracted supporters to his pretrial appearances and has become a folk hero to some, with references appearing in cases brought against other defendants.