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Luigi Mangione plans to assert a psychiatric defense at his state murder trial, claiming he was suffering from extreme emotional disturbance when he gunned down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a judge said Wednesday. It wouldn’t absolve him of the Dec. 4, 2024, killing, but could free him from prison sooner.

If a jury accepts that defense, the panel would convict Mangione of manslaughter and he would face up to 25 years in prison. Alternatively, the jury could reject the extreme emotional disturbance defense and convict him of murder, which carries a potential life sentence. That defense isn’t available in his federal case.

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[-] brygphilomena@lemmy.dbzer0.com 21 points 7 hours ago

"allegedly gunned down"

FTFY

[-] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 8 hours ago

In an insane world, some something let him go.

I instantly had a good response in my head and then I saw that shitbag who said to lock him up and lost it. Thanks, dick. You made me mad twice.

[-] belunos@lemmus.org 42 points 15 hours ago

cough jury nullification

[-] rants_unnecessarily@piefed.social 33 points 16 hours ago

The irony of claiming health issues as the reason the United Healthcare CEO was shot is hilarious.

[-] DigDoug@lemmy.world 184 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

...have they even proven that Luigi did it?

Unless they have, effectively admitting to it seems like a fucking stupid idea to me.

[-] WoodScientist@lemmy.world 5 points 2 hours ago

They won't need to prove Luigi did it. Luigi is confessing here. That's exactly what Luigi is doing here - admitting he did it.

That's the whole point of an affirmative defense. Self-defense is another example of an affirmative defense. You say in court, "I do not contest the facts of the case. I indeed pulled a trigger on a gun, fired a bullet at someone, and killed them. The facts of my actions are not in dispute. However, what I did was OK because it was self defense, which I will prove for reasons X, Y, and Z."

By taking a mental health defense, Luigi's team are admitting that he was the one that pulled the trigger. It's a confession, but one that says "I did it, but I shouldn't be held responsible for it."

Now, maybe some might still cling to the idea that the whole thing is a complete frame job. But the fact that they're going for the insanity defense shows the evidence is probably pretty damning. Insanity defenses rarely work. And in the rare cases they do, they usually result in people serving longer terms in a mental hospital than they would in prison. Insanity defense are nearly impossible to succeed and are anything but a get-out-of-jail-free card.

I hope he succeeds on the insanity defense claim. But at this point, it's pretty clear that the defense is conceding the point that Luigi did it. They aren't going to try and claim in court that evidence is fake or planted.

[-] SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world 4 points 2 hours ago

If you can show the defendant did any planning then made a significant effort to cover their tracks it shows rational thought and knowledge that it was a crime.

Obviously I am just an observer with only the media to get case information from but it's always seemed pretty fishy to me

[-] DigDoug@lemmy.world 79 points 1 day ago

Me too. I don't think he looks enough like the guy at the bank counter(iirc) to be sure they're the same person, and the fact that they only found the gun after taking the backpack back to the station is extremely suspicious.

My conspiracy theory is that, after the near-universal adulation of the killer, they've made Luigi a scapegoat in order to prevent any more killing of wealthy ghouls.

[-] iocase@lemmy.zip 22 points 14 hours ago

His fucking eyebrows grew 3 sizes in one night like the fucking grinch's heart. When he was arrested he had two Mario moustache unibrows over his eyes and the security cam perp had Legolas eyebrows.

[-] ViceroTempus@lemmy.world 4 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

Not just the eyebrows, but the bank shot also had someone with a more angular face, their cheek bones looked different. In fact I thought the shooter originally from the bank picture was a woman. And was entirely surprised when they "caught" a man.

Admittedly lighting and perspective can play a huge role in making someone look different, but still, I'm not convinced Mangione was the shooter.

[-] Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz 1 points 12 hours ago

They would have picked an old black person and/or communist and/or muslim, not a cute white dude basicly anyone would fuck.

[-] dellish@lemmy.world 35 points 23 hours ago

There's no way it was him, he was hanging out with me at the time.

[-] CultLeader4Hire@lemmy.world 51 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Exactly, I’m incredibly disappointed by this news considering how horribly botched the investigation was

[-] yesman@lemmy.world 31 points 1 day ago

Ima trust the million dollar legal team over what'd make a good movie.

[-] Randelung@lemmy.world 15 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

The US legal system is incredibly fucked. You take plea deals even though you're innocent because if you don't, the judge and prosecutor are so biased they'll lock you up with hardly a shed of evidence, or the legal costs will bankrupt you and your family, or you'll spend years behind bars before a sentence is decided on. So he might just have to take a tactical approach because "there was a gun" and the jury would probably convict, anyway - because of course they're chosen for their biases, too.

[-] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 17 points 23 hours ago

Dude what good is a million dollar legal teams opinion when you have random half assed comments?! I mean, their personal opinion is something about photos being shady. So there! Checkmate.

[-] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 75 points 1 day ago

claiming he was suffering from extreme emotional disturbance when he gunned down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a judge said Wednesday.

I'd rather see the argument that it was the only logical response to an illogical environment.

It's not that "everyone's going crazy" these days, it's that corporations and oligarchs aren't withholding their end of the social contract, and forcing the cognitive dissonance on everyone that we still need to follow it will continue to lead to events like this.

It's bigger than Luigi and whatever that CEOs name was.

This is just how people will react when they no longer believe society has their backs. And modern American society 100% does not have anyone's back except oligarchs and corporations.

But the effect of the shooter's actions is quantifiable and resulted in claims getting approved and a shit ton of lives saved.

Like, that's going to be the big sticking point of this trial, it's a trolley problem jury trial. I still think he's getting off, even if they can prove it was him.

[-] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 38 points 1 day ago

Tl;dr - Luigi’s not crazy, it’s the rest of the world that’s gone mad.

(Shout out to Wonko the Sane)

[-] YawningNostalgia 2 points 15 hours ago

I just had this conversation with my therapist where I said I don't think that I'm necessarily depressed, but am being acted upon by the men who move only in dimly lit halls and determine my future for me, and I feel distant from others, and don't do enough fun things. And she was like, yeah, probably.

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[-] toiletobserver@lemmy.world 39 points 1 day ago

This is a bad defence. I saw Luigi minutes before the incident in a far away location. He's innocent.

[-] Kolanaki@pawb.social 15 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

Just reminded me of something I heard on an Ask a Lawyer video recently:

"Some people who aren't insane plead insanity, and some people who are very insane don't."

This is a case where I believe he was driven insane by the bullshit surrounding healthcare.

[-] leftzero@lemmy.dbzer0.com 20 points 1 day ago

Given the vast number of people who are currently also suffering from CEO-induced extreme emotional disturbance, the bastards should be shitting their pants in abject terror right now...

[-] ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 5 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

The shooting happened over a year ago. I think it's time to stop dreaming that this will start some sort of revolution. Since the shooting poor people go way poorer, Elon has trillion dollars now, no other attacks happened. All the CEOs simply got better security, they are not terrified right now.

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this post was submitted on 17 Jun 2026
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