OAN Staff Lillian Mann
5:09 PM – Wednesday, June 17, 2026
Luigi Mangione is reportedly planning to assert a psychiatric defense in his state murder trial over the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, New York State Judge Gregory Carro announced in court on Wednesday.
If the defendant’s high-profile legal team can establish that Mangione was suffering from an “extreme emotional disturbance” (EED) when he allegedly shot Thompson in December 2024, his second-degree murder charge could be reduced to first-degree manslaughter upon conviction.
The 28-year-old faces the possibility of life in prison if convicted in the state case, which includes nine felony charges spanning second-degree murder and multiple counts of criminal possession of a weapon. Mangione has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Judge Carro revealed that the defense originally flagged this strategy in a sealed document last September, later confirming it during a closed-door hearing on June 3rd.
“They need to know what malady this defendant suffers [from], and how that triggered extreme emotional disturbance at the time of the occurrence,” Carro stressed, warning the defense to provide prosecutors with specific details by Thursday to prevent an ambush on the eve of the trial.
While Mangione’s specific mental health claims are not yet public, Carro emphasized that the defense is required to submit additional documentation regarding the psychiatric defense by Thursday.
NBC News legal analyst Danny Cevallos commented on the case, saying, “Despite the name, ‘extreme emotional disturbance’ isn’t an insanity defense, and it won’t get a defendant off the hook. The person is still guilty of an intentional killing. All it does is lower the level of the crime, and the prison time that comes with it.”
Cevallos added that the requirements are historically difficult for a defendant to meet, requiring the defense to convince a jury that the defendant completely lost self-control due to a “reasonable explanation or excuse.”
“To pull it off, though, the defense has to convince the jury, more likely than not, that the defendant was so overwhelmed that he lost control, and that there was a ‘reasonable explanation or excuse’ for feeling that way, seeing things the way he believed them to be at the time,” Cevallos said.
Defense attorney Ron Kuby described an EED claim as the “perfect defense” for this scenario, arguing that it would give Mangione’s legal team an opportunity to spotlight systemic flaws in the healthcare system as part of its case.
“You need to make the jury want to rule in your client’s favor,” Kuby told the New York Post. “One way to do that is to present your client in a sympathetic light. Another is to suggest that the victim played a role in the circumstances that led to his own demise.”
The development follows Carro’s ruling last month permitting prosecutors can introduce a 3D-printed gun and a red notebook recovered from Mangione’s backpack during his Pennsylvania arrest, rejecting defense claims that the items were seized illegally.
The next court hearing is scheduled for August 11th, with jury selection set to officially begin September 8th after previous preparation delays.
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