Luigi Mangione, an Ivy League graduate accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a busy Manhattan street, has pleaded not guilty to murder charges.
Mangione, 26, was arraigned at a brief hearing on Monday, on 11 state criminal charges, including one count of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder.
If convicted, he could face life in prison without parole.
A hearing on evidence to be used at trial was set for February 21.
The suspect was escorted to Judge Gregory Carro’s courtroom bound by multiple chains, shackles and cuffs.
Mangione’s counsel, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, argued that the justice system was treating her client “like a human ping pong ball” by trying him in multiple court jurisdictions in quick succession.
“They are treating him like he is some sort of political fodder, some sort of spectacle,” Agnifilo said.
“He is not a symbol, he is someone who is afforded a right to a fair trial,” she added.
In addition to the state charges, Mangione faces federal charges that include murder using a firearm, two counts of stalking, and other firearms-related offences.
If convicted at the federal level, he could face the death penalty.
Federal prosecutors revealed details of a handwritten notebook discovered during Mangione’s arrest, which they claim outlines a month-long plan to target the health insurance industry.
According to them, the entries reflected “hostility toward the health insurance industry and wealthy executives in particular.”
Mangione was arrested in Pennsylvania after a five-day manhunt and extradited to New York to face federal charges despite arguments by his defence team that the federal charges are an unnecessary addition to an already “overcharged” state case.
“In over three decades of prosecuting and defending criminal cases in New York, I’ve never seen anything like this,” Agnifilo said, calling the overlapping prosecutions “very confusing and highly unusual.”
The deceased began working for UnitedHealthcare in 2004, rising through the ranks to head the Minneapolis-based health insurance company, one of the largest in the nation and was named CEO in April 2021.