Alleged healthcare CEO killer Luigi Mangione could be risking it all if he decides to plead guilty in hopes of avoiding a life sentence — as the move may backfire in more ways than one.
If the 28-year-old accused assassin is willing to accept responsibility in his federal case for killing UnitedHealthcare boss Brian Thompson, his lawyers would then try to get his state charges tossed because of New York’s rules against double jeopardy, or being tried twice for the same crime.
But the legal maneuver is dangerous for Mangione, as any double jeopardy arguments are highly uncertain.
And even if he quashes the state case, he could still wind up spending life behind bars on the federal charges as US prosecutors are expected to demand the max and he will be leaving his fate in the hands of US District Judge Margaret Garnett.
“Their philosophy is probably, ‘It cannot get any worse,’” Seth Zuckerman, a defense lawyer and former Brooklyn prosecutor, told The Post when asked to outline Mangione’s possible legal strategy.
“Putting his fate in the hands of a federal judge is probably an upside play,” Zuckerman added.
Mangione is expected to enter some sort of guilty plea during a Friday morning conference — with the exact charges unclear — but sources cautioned that the Maryland prep school grad could still get cold feet at any moment before or even during his appearance.
The alleged killer’s lawyers huddled with him Thursday morning at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, said a source familiar with the matter.
Mangione is charged in the federal case with stalking Thompson, a 50-year-old father of two, leading to Thompson’s death on a Midtown sidewalk in December 2024. He’s not charged with murder in the federal case, but still faces a possible life sentence on the stalking rap.
Mangione separately faces up to life in the state case, where he’s charged with second-degree murder and illegal weapons possession.
Here’s the latest on accused CEO killer Luigi Mangione’s murder trial
Legal experts told The Post that a federal plea could very well derail the state case — depending on its specific terms — but that the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office could still fight to take its case to trial.
“This is exactly what the NY County Prosecutor’s Office has feared — a plea in the federal case will almost certainly prevent the state prosecution in whole or in part,” said Anna Cominsky, a professor at New York Law School.
“Although I do not expect the State to concede and dismiss on double jeopardy grounds, they have an uphill legal battle to keep their case alive after a conviction in federal court,” Cominsky added.
The DA’s office would challenge any proposed federal plea that would “defeat a just outcome in the state prosecution,” Assistant DA Joel Seidemann vowed in a letter filed with the state court last month.
If Mangione were to plead guilty to the federal stalking raps, the state would have a “viable argument” that its murder case is “separate and distinct from the federal charges” despite the cases dealing with the same underlying killing, said Big Apple-based attorney Rich Schoenstein.
Mangione’s camp would likely counter by pointing to a potential useful legal precedent: A Manhattan judge’s 2019 ruling tossing a mortgage fraud case against President Trump’s one-time campaign manager Paul Manafort on double jeopardy grounds.
Then Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance had tried at the time to bring a state case against Manafort — who was in federal prison on a federal fraud conviction — to try to keep him behind bars in the event that Trump pardoned him, which ended up happening.
Manafort’s lawyer at the time? Todd Blanche, who was recently confirmed as US Attorney General.
Another potential factor that could lead Mangione to take a federal plea is that by doing so he could ask to be sentenced to federal prison rather than a New York state lockup.
Defendants typically prefer the conditions in federal prisons over state prisons, said criminal defense attorney Julie Rendelman, a former high-ranking prosecutor in the Brooklyn DA’s office.
Copping a federal plea would not be without its own risks, however. If the Manhattan state case does end up being allowed to go forward, the DA’s office could get a boost to its case because it would get to show state jurors evidence of Mangione admitting guilt in the federal case, legal experts said.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty in both cases.
Prosecutors say he penned a “manifesto” explaining his motive to kill Thompson outside his company’s annual investor conference to “rebel against the deadly, greed-fueled health insurance cartel.”
“UnitedHealthcare and other insurance providers were justifiable targets because the industry “literally extracts human life force for money,” Mangione allegedly wrote.
The scion of a wealthy Maryland family led authorities on a dramatic five-day manhunt before local cops in Altoona, Pa. finally nabbed him while he munched on breakfast at a local McDonald’s.
— Additional reporting by Larry Celona.
