Manhattan prosecutors oppose dismissal of Luigi Mangione's state case

Manhattan prosecutors filed a response on October 9, 2026, seeking to keep the state prosecution of Luigi Mangione over Brian Thompson's killing. They argued that his federal guilty plea to stalking offences does not bar a separate murder case under New York law.

Mangione pleaded guilty in federal court in August, admitting that he travelled to New York intending to shoot the UnitedHealthcare chief executive and killed him in Manhattan on December 4, 2024. U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett accepted his plea to two federal stalking counts. Those proceedings are separate from the state case, in which he pleaded not guilty.

His lawyers asked the state court to dismiss the indictment under New York's protections against successive prosecutions. They contend that the two cases seek to punish the same conduct twice. Prosecutors dispute that argument, saying stalking and murder address different crimes and different harms.

The state indictment includes second-degree murder, second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument and other charges. A ruling on whether the prosecution can continue is expected in December. Mangione is also scheduled for federal sentencing that month and faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment in that case. The prosecution's new filing is an argument for continuing the state proceedings, rather than a court decision resolving the dispute.