NEW YORK (AP) — Luigi Mangione will assert a psychiatric defense at his state murder trial in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a judge said Wednesday. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Associated Press.
Judge Gregory Carro said Mangione's lawyers have informed him they will attempt to show that he was suffering from "extreme emotional disturbance at the time of the occurrence."
By asserting a psychiatric defense, Mangione would effectively be admitting that he killed Thompson but did so because of mitigating circumstances.
If a jury finds that Mangione was emotionally disturbed at the time of the killing, it could convict him of manslaughter instead of murder, meaning he'd be sentenced to less time in prison.
It is not the same as a not guilty by reason of insanity defense, which would allow a defendant to go to a psychiatric facility instead of prison.
Carro's ruling came two weeks after he held a secret hearing on the matter at the request of the defense. He said he will unseal records pertaining to the hearing and the defense's move for a psychiatric defense.
"The reasons for the sealing was to give the defense an opportunity to determine whether they were going forth with that defense and the nature of that defense," Carro said.
Mangione's lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, said unsealing the transcript of the secret hearing and materials related to his psychiatric defense will harm him in his federal case.
"The reason why we asked for the sealing is that this defense is not available federally and Mr. Mangione is being prosecuted federally and this is prejudicial to his defense to the exact same facts," Friedman Agnifilo said.