Luigi Mangione Expected to Plead Guilty to Federal Stalking Charges in UnitedHealthcare CEO Killing

Luigi Mangione is expected to plead guilty on Friday in Manhattan federal court to stalking charges connected to the December 2024 fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.

The anticipated plea comes less than a month before Mangione, 28, is scheduled to begin jury selection in a separate New York state murder case stemming from the same killing. Sources stressed that negotiations remain ongoing and that any agreement could still collapse before or during the scheduled hearing before U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett.

Mangione has previously pleaded not guilty to both the federal and state charges. In the federal case, prosecutors originally charged him with murder, weapons offenses, and stalking related to the Dec. 4, 2024, shooting outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel as Thompson arrived for an investor conference. In a January 2026 ruling, Judge Garnett dismissed the murder and weapons counts on legal technicalities. That decision removed the possibility of the death penalty. The remaining federal charges of stalking resulting in death still carry a potential sentence of life in prison without parole.

A guilty plea in federal court would resolve the remaining federal case and avoid a trial that had been scheduled to begin in early 2026. Defense attorneys are expected to argue that a federal conviction could trigger New York’s relatively strict double-jeopardy protections and potentially bar or limit the state murder prosecution. State prosecutors had previously pushed to try their case first, in part to avoid that risk. Jury selection in the state case is currently set to begin in early September.

Mangione, a University of Pennsylvania graduate from a Maryland family, was arrested in Pennsylvania days after the shooting. Authorities alleged he stalked and then fatally shot Thompson on a Manhattan sidewalk. The high-profile case drew widespread attention and became a focal point for public frustration with the health insurance industry, even as officials condemned the violence.

Neither Mangione’s lawyers nor the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York have publicly confirmed the details of any plea agreement. When asked about the Friday hearing, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan said only that a conference was scheduled. Court officials confirmed the hearing time but provided no further information.If Mangione enters a guilty plea and the judge accepts it, sentencing would follow at a later date. The outcome of the federal case is likely to shape the trajectory of the still-pending state murder prosecution.