Key takeaways:
- CBS News reported that Mangione and federal prosecutors are discussing a possible guilty plea, but it is unclear whether any agreement has been reached.
- Mangione is scheduled to appear Friday at 11 a.m. in Manhattan federal court, less than a month before jury selection in his state trial is set to begin Sept. 8.
- Legal experts cited by CBS News and NPR said a federal guilty plea could raise double-jeopardy issues that may affect the state prosecution.
Luigi Mangione, the man accused in the 2024 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, is in talks with federal prosecutors about a possible guilty plea ahead of a court appearance Friday in Manhattan, CBS News reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Mangione, 28, is scheduled to appear at an 11 a.m. conference in U.S. District Court before Judge Margaret Garnett. Federal prosecutors and defense attorneys requested the hearing in a letter filed Tuesday, less than a month before jury selection is set to begin in Mangione’s state trial.
The purpose of the conference has not been made public. Asked about it at a news conference Wednesday, James McDonald, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, declined to elaborate. “There’s a conference scheduled for 11 a.m. on Friday, that’s all we can say at this time,” McDonald said, according to NPR.
Sources told CBS News that plea discussions have been ongoing, but it is unclear whether an agreement has been reached. Mangione has pleaded not guilty in both his federal and state cases.
“There’s speculation they may have a plea deal in the federal case, but we don’t know that for sure,” legal expert Richard Schoenstein told CBS News earlier this week. “It could be a conference about scheduling. It could be a conference about a dispute about discovery. It could be a lot of different things. We’re not really gonna know until we see what happens on Friday.”
Thompson was gunned down on a Manhattan street in December 2024. After a nationwide manhunt, Mangione was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, NPR reported. Police seized a pistol and a notebook containing writings critical of the U.S. healthcare and insurance industries, according to NPR.
Mangione faces criminal charges in both federal and state court. NPR reported that federal charges that had threatened him with a possible death penalty were tossed by a judge in January 2026. Remaining federal charges include a count of “interstate stalking resulting in death,” which could carry a sentence of life in prison. The state case includes murder charges, with jury selection scheduled to begin Sept. 8. If the federal case proceeds to trial, it is expected to start in January.
The timing of Friday’s hearing has raised questions because of New York’s rules limiting double-jeopardy prosecutions, which can restrict efforts to try a defendant more than once on related charges. Legal experts say a federal plea could complicate or even derail the state prosecution.
“Luigi Mangione’s defense team had made that argument in the state case prior, and this could revive it, because if you actually have a conviction on the federal case it’s a more robust double jeopardy protection in the New York state case,” CBS News legal contributor Caroline Polisi said Thursday on “CBS Mornings.” “So we could see a motion there that could kick this state case back.”
Gary Galperin, a Cardozo School of Law professor and former prosecutor in the New York County district attorney’s office, also pointed to the timing. “Why would they be going to federal court tomorrow when they should be preparing for the state trial?” he told NPR. “It would be reasonable to speculate that they may be trying to enter a guilty plea.”
In a letter sent last month to state Judge Gregory Carro, assistant Manhattan district attorney Joel Seidemann warned that a federal plea could affect the state case. “If a proposed federal guilty plea would operate to defeat a just outcome in the state prosecution, the people [the Manhattan DA’s office] 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,” Seidemann wrote, according to NPR.
NPR reported that prosecutors and Mangione’s attorneys did not immediately respond to requests for comment on any possible plea deal. A spokesperson for the Manhattan district attorney’s office directed questions about whether the office would play a role in Friday’s hearing to the U.S. attorney’s office.
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