Luigi Mangione is stalling on revealing if he’ll use a psychiatric defense at his Manhattan murder trial — a legal gambit that could reduce his time in prison, state prosecutors claimed Thursday.
The accused killer maintains that showing his cards to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office would “compromise” his defense in a separate federal case, where he faces the death penalty.
The tit-for-tat over how Mangione, 27, may fight charges of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson comes as Judge Gregory Carro has yet to set a trial date in the headline-grabbing case.
The DA’s office argued that Mangione has added to the delay by blowing through an August 25 deadline for revealing if he’ll use the psych defense strategy.
“Unnecessary delay thwarts the timely search for truth and erodes public confidence in the justice system,” wrote Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann in a letter sent to the judge.
Pushing back the trial “would deprive the People of their day in court at a time when the events are fresh in the witnesses’ memories,” Seidemann said.
But Mangione’s lawyer claimed in an August 25 letter that it would be “compromising his constitutional rights” in the federal case to reveal his legal strategy first in state court.
“We ask the court to recognize the truly unprecedented situation facing Mr. Mangione and his counsel given the multiple prosecutions for the same offense, including one that involves the death sentence,” attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo wrote.
Mangione’s state charges — murder in the first degree as an act of terrorism — currently carry a max of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
A psychiatric defense, if successful, could lead to the jailed Ivy League grad receiving a lesser sentence or being institutionalized.
Mangione could argue that he was suffering from an “extreme emotional disturbance” at the time of the killing.
If a New York state jury agreed, the alleged murderer’s charge would be reduced to first-degree manslaughter, which carries a max of 25 years in prison.
Mangione could also use what’s referred to as the “insanity defense” — which could lead to him being committed to a mental health facility — but such a move is considered less likely.
The accused killer’s lawyers have urged that he face trial on the federal charges first given that they carry the ultimate possible punishment of a death penalty.
Federal courts also have different rules for psych defenses and are considered a far more difficult venue for making such arguments, experts have told The Post.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to Thompson’s Dec. 4, 2024, murder and is being held in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center.
He’s due back in court on Sept. 16 in his state case, and on Dec. 5 in his federal case.
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