Shocking reports are speaking about Luigi Mangione pleading not guilty Friday to a federal indictment that accused him of stalking and murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
The alleged assassin was clad in khaki prison garb when he entered into a plea in the Federal Court in New York on Friday.
The news comes just hours after prosecutors formally filed papers informing the judge that they intend to seek the death penalty.
The court on Friday shared how the government’s discovery in the form of evidence needs to be turned over to the defense by May 27. She ordered that the parties return to the courtroom by December 5. This is just over one year to the day after Thompson’s murder.
Mangione is also facing state-level murder charges in New York, weapons charges, and forgery charges in Pennsylvania. This is where he was found by the authorities after a five-day manhunt.
DOJ prosecutors justified pursuing the death penalty in part, alleging that Mangione sought to amplify the ideological message and provoke broad-based resistance to the victim’s industry.