According to New York-based attorney Daniel Gotlin, UnitedHealthcare murder suspect Luigi Mangione's “only realistic chance” of success in his murder case is “some type of psychiatric defense.”
Gotlin of Gotlin & Jaffe successfully attempted to defend himself on mental health grounds in 2014 while representing a man accused of fatally stabbing his mother.
“My guess is that they should try a psychiatric defense that mitigates his intent to do this in the hope that he is convicted not of murder but of manslaughter,” he told Fox News Digital. “Even if he reaches the maximum, which is eight to 24 years… he could still get out. You know, you can spend 15, 16, 18 years in it, but at least one day you'll get out.” “
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced Tuesday that a grand jury had indicted Mangione on charges of first-degree murder and promoting terrorism; two counts of second-degree murder; two counts of second-degree possession of a weapon; four counts of third-degree possession of a weapon; one count of fourth-degree possession of a weapon; and one count of second-degree possession of a forged instrument.
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Luigi Mangione screams as officers restrain him as he arrives for his extradition hearing at the Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, on December 10, 2024. (David Dee Delgado for Fox News Digital)
Bragg called Mangione's alleged actions “intentional” and “targeted” in a statement Tuesday.
Mangione faces additional charges related to the suspected murder weapon and a fake ID in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested.
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Under New York law, first-degree murder charges are limited to certain circumstances, such as the killing of a police officer or if the crime involved torture. Second-degree murder is the charge of premeditated murder and is still punishable by life in prison.
Luigi Mangione (Obtained from Fox News Digital)
“Anyone who believes they can win the case based on the facts [is] “Either incompetent or just completely crazy,” Gotlin said. “There’s no way that can happen, not from what I see in the evidence.”
Evidence collected so far by authorities includes a manifesto that police in Altoona, Pennsylvania, apparently found in Mangione's backpack when they arrested him at a McDonald's restaurant on December 9th. Officials also allege that a 3D-printed gun and a silencer were found on Mangione during his arrest struggle, a description of the gun used in Thompson's murder.
“In my view, the only possible chance, and I'm not suggesting it's a viable defense, is some kind of psychiatric defense.”
Additionally, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said on December 11 that police had matched the gun recovered in Mangione, Pennsylvania, to shell casings found outside the Hilton, where Thompson was shot in the back on the sidewalk. They also had his fingerprints on a snack bar wrapper and a water bottle, she said.
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Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was shot and killed in Midtown Manhattan on December 4, 2024. (Businesswire | NYPD Crimestoppers)
Mangione's own attorney predicted an insanity defense in a CNN interview before she was hired.
“It looks to me like there's a not guilty by reason of insanity defense that they're going to think about because the evidence is going to be so overwhelming that he did what he did,” Karen Friedman told Agnifilo the point of sale.
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Her office declined to comment to Fox News Digital. Mangione's Pennsylvania attorney, Thomas Dickey, did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Fox News Digital.
Luigi Mangione (Luigi Mangione/Facebook)
Still others have suggested that the level of planning that appears to have gone into the killing could complicate an insanity defense.
“An example of extreme emotional stress defense: a man walks up to someone on the subway and stabs someone, then he drops the knife and stops, and he has previous mental health problems. He hears voices,” said Louis Gelormino, a New York criminal defense attorney who previously represented a client who stabbed both of his parents and put forward such a defense. “He’s not planning an escape, he doesn’t have a false ID, he doesn’t have a silencer on his gun. These are the things that show that no matter what you do, you knew what you were doing.”
Another mental health option, but not necessarily a defense, would be to argue that Mangione was not competent to stand trial, Gelormino said. If his lawyers are successful there, he might be hospitalized until he is fit enough to go to trial and then go to trial anyway.
Luigi Mangione is led into the Blair County Courthouse for an extradition hearing on December 10, 2024 in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. (Jeff Swensen)
A masked gunman ambushed Minnesota-based Thompson outside a Hilton hotel in Manhattan about an hour and 45 minutes before he was scheduled to attend the company's publicly announced annual shareholder conference.
The suspect, who police believe was Mangione, checked into an Upper West Side hostel using a fake ID, paid in cash and is believed to have fled the Big Apple within an hour of the killing.
The 26-year-old suspect is originally from Maryland and most recently lived in California and Hawaii. Mangione graduated at the top of his class in 2016 from Gilman School, a private all-boys high school in Baltimore. He then received his bachelor's and master's degrees in computer science from the University of Pennsylvania in 2020.
Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare (AP Photo/UnitedHealth Group/File)
“From what I see in this child, it seems to me that he has clearly broken with reality,” Gotlin said. “From what I can see, he had everything in his power. And… I'm not a psychiatrist. I have treated other psychiatric cases. I mean, it's conceivable that he may have developed schizophrenia or some other psychiatric disorder in the last several years and is completely delusional.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, most cases of schizophrenia are diagnosed between ages 16 and 30, although men typically develop the disorder in the earlier half of this period.
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The murder of suspect Luigi Mangione by UnitedHealthcare CEO is shown at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania on December 9, 2024. (Pennsylvania State Police)
Experts say it's too early to speculate about a possible defense or plea deal or even a motive for it, despite an alleged manifesto in the suspect's handwriting.
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“Right now, it is too early to make a decision about exonerating him because he may not have been of sound mind at the time of the shooting,” said Lara Yeretsian, a Los Angeles-based criminal defense attorney who has represented high-profile defendants including Michael Jackson and Scott Peterson. “What unfettered mindset could have led Luigi Mangione to pursue an insurance executive? There is nothing to suggest he was denied coverage and we know he comes from a wealthy background so money was not an issue.”
“Although he had written a manifesto, the shooting may have been the result of delusion and mental illness, a defense that his lawyers would have to consider before he would have to admit his guilt,” she added.
