NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� In a stunning reversal, ‘s lawyers told a judge Thursday that he will no longer be asserting a psychiatric defense at his state murder trial in the killing of .
The retraction came just a day after Mangione鈥檚 lawyers told Judge Gregory Carro that they planned to pursue a defense involving claims that the 28-year-old Ivy League graduate was suffering from extreme emotional disturbance at the time of the Dec. 4, 2024, killing.
A message seeking comment was left with a spokesperson for Mangione鈥檚 lawyers. The Manhattan district attorney鈥檚 office, which is prosecuting the state case, declined to comment.
Mangione’s lawyers had faced a deadline Thursday to provide prosecutors with information to support the emotional disturbance claim. Also Thursday, a transcript of a secret hearing held on the matter on June 3 was made public after Carro ordered it unsealed.
If Mangione were to have gone through with the extreme emotional disturbance defense, he would have effectively been admitting that he killed Thompson but did so because of mitigating circumstances. It wouldn鈥檛 have absolved him of responsibility, but could have led to less time in prison.
If a jury accepts the defense, it is obligated to convict a defendant of manslaughter, which is punishable by up to 25 years in prison, instead of murder, which carries a potential life sentence.
In a letter to Carro on Thursday, Mangione lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo said the defense 鈥渞espectfully withdraws鈥� its notice under New York’s psychiatric defense statute.
Mangione, 28, has pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges. His state trial is scheduled to start Sept. 8. His federal trial, which involves stalking charges, is set to begin on Oct. 13.
At Wednesday’s hearing, Friedman Agnifilo protested Carro鈥檚 decision to unseal materials related to his psychiatric defense, saying it will be 鈥減rejudicial to his defense to the exact same facts鈥� in his federal case, where an extreme emotional disturbance defense isn鈥檛 allowed.
An emotional disturbance defense 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.
Thompson, 50, was killed as he walked to a Manhattan hotel for UnitedHealth Group鈥檚 annual investor conference. Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind. Police say 鈥渄elay,鈥� 鈥渄eny鈥� and 鈥渄epose鈥� were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.
Mangione, an Ivy League graduate from a wealthy Maryland family, at a McDonald鈥檚 in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of Manhattan.
At a hearing last month, Carro ruled that a gun and notebook that prosecutors say link Mangione to the killing can be used as evidence against him.
The gun, a 3D-printed pistol, matches the one used to kill Thompson, prosecutors said. The notebook describes wanting to 鈥渨ack鈥� a health insurance executive and rebelling against 鈥渢he deadly, greed fueled health insurance cartel.鈥�
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