2020 Engineering graduate Luigi Mangione’s lawyers told a judge Thursday that they will no longer pursue a psychiatric defense in his state murder trial.
At a June 17 hearing, New York Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro announced that Mangione’s lawyers would argue that he suffered extreme emotional disturbance during the December 2024 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. The following day, Mangione’s team backtracked on those plans.
For defendants charged with murder in New York, the extreme emotional disturbance defense permits lawyers to argue that their clients experienced “a profound loss of self-control” during the criminal act. If accepted, the defense does not eliminate “responsibility for the homicide,” but requires that the defendant be found not guilty of murder. Instead, the charge is downgraded to first-degree manslaughter.
Prior to the reversal, Carro had announced his intention to unseal documents related to the psychiatric defense. He had also ordered Mangione’s lawyers to provide information about the extreme emotional disturbance by Thursday after Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann said the defense team had “stonewalled” the prosecution.
On the state level, Mangione is charged with second-degree murder and several counts related to criminal possession of a weapon, one of which Carro dismissed on Wednesday. Mangione’s state trial is expected to begin in September.
Mangione also faces two stalking charges in his federal trial, which is set to begin in October. Last month, Carro ruled that federal prosecutors could use a 3D-printed pistol and a notebook as evidence — rejecting the defense’s argument that the items were seized illegally — though he suppressed other evidence that came from an “improper warrantless search.”
In January, a district judge dismissed the two most serious federal charges levied against Mangione, one of which carried a potential death penalty. Earlier that month, he faced a pretrial conference — his first appearance in federal court since his April 2025 arraignment.
As a Penn student, Mangione studied at the School of Engineering and Applied Science and founded UPGRADE, the University’s first game development club. He graduated in 2020 with a bachelor’s and master’s degree in computer and information science.
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Mangione was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. In a previous social media post, he claimed that his mental and physical issues were exacerbated by the fraternity’s “hell week.”
He frequently posted about his struggle with back issues and “brain fog” on Reddit. His posts also attributed his decline in academic success to worsening health.
