Luigi Mangione has pled not guilty to stalking and murder charges on Friday in connection with the murder of Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare in December.
According to NBC News, Mangione, 26, appeared in a Manhattan federal court in New York City on Friday and could face the death penalty if found guilty.
A federal grand jury indicted Mangione on four charges last week, that includes two counts of stalking, murder with the use of a firearm, and allegedly using a silencer.
Mangione allegedly shot Thompson from behind on a Manhattan sidewalk near the hotel where the CEO was staying for an investors’ conference. Investigators discovered two spent shell casings at the scene, inscribed with the words “deny,” “depose,” and “delay.” Following a five-day nationwide manhunt, Mangione was apprehended at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
On Thursday, prosecutors announced their intent to pursue the death penalty for Mangione, following Attorney General Pam Bondi’s directive weeks earlier. They argued that Thompson’s killing was deliberate, citing Mangione’s purported aim to “provoke broad-based resistance” against the healthcare industry and the “future dangerousness” he poses to it.
“Mangione presents a future danger because he expressed intent to target an entire industry, and rally political and social opposition to that industry, by engaging in an act of lethal violence,” the notice read. “And he took steps to evade law enforcement, flee New York City immediately after the murder, and cross state lines while armed with a privately manufactured firearm and silencer.”
He also faces state charges in New York and Pennsylvania, which includes first-degree murder, terrorism, second-degree murder, and weapons charges.
