Luigi Mangione in discussions about possible guilty plea in federal case, sources tell CBS News
(CBS NEWS) – Luigi Mangione, accused in the 2024 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, is in discussions about a possible plea deal on federal charges ahead of a court appearance Friday in New York City, sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.
Mangione, 28, is set to appear at an 11 a.m. conference in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. That meeting is taking place after prosecutors and the defense team sent a letter to federal court Tuesday requesting Friday’s conference.
Plea discussions between federal prosecutors and defense attorneys have been ongoing and it’s unclear if an agreement has been reached, sources told CBS News.
Mangione faces both federal and state charges in connection with Thompson’s death. He has pleaded not guilty in both trials.
“There’s speculation they may have a plea deal in the federal case, but we don’t know that for sure. 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,” legal expert Richard Schoenstein said earlier this week.
If a plea deal is reached, it could have an impact on his state trial, which is set to begin next month. That’s because of potential double jeopardy concerns. Double jeopardy refers to a law which says “a person may not be twice prosecuted for the same offense,” although a number of exceptions are listed.
“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. So we could see a motion there that could kick this state case back,” CBS News legal contributor Caroline Polisi said Thursday on “CBS Mornings.”
Schoenstein, however, said the double jeopardy argument in the event of a federal plea deal is debatable.
“I think the question of whether or not it would be double jeopardy is open and complicated and subject to debate,” Schoenstein said.
Schoenstein said a federal plea deal would “put some pressure on state prosecutors to reach a deal of their own, or to become part of the deal that is being negotiated between the feds and the defendant, and therefore it could resolve the case on a negotiated level.”
Schoenstein said it could also defense strategy if the state case does go forward, “because if it does go forward he no longer has to worry about a federal trial down the road.”
The start of his federal trial, if it moves forward, is set for January.
