New York:

Luigi Mangione, the man accused of fatally gunning down health insurance executive Brian Thompson on a Manhattan street, pleaded not guilty on Monday to New York state murder charges that brand him a terrorist.

Mangione, 26, was escorted into Judge Gregory Carro’s 13th-floor courtroom in the New York state criminal courthouse in lower Manhattan with a court officer on each arm, and a procession of a half dozen officers following him. He was in handcuffs and shackles, and wore a burgundy sweater over a white-collared shirt.

Luigi Mangione leaned into a microphone and said “not guilty” when Carro asked how he pleaded to the 11-count indictment charging him with murder as an act of terrorism and weapons offenses.

If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealth Group’s insurance unit UnitedHealthcare, was shot dead on Dec. 4 outside a hotel in midtown Manhattan where the company was gathering for an investor conference.

The brazen killing and ensuing five-day manhunt captivated Americans. While public officials have condemned the killing, some Americans who decry the steep costs of healthcare and insurance companies’ power to deny paying for some medical treatments have feted Mangione as a folk hero.

Luigi Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Dec. 9. After deciding last week not to fight extradition, he was transferred to New York, where he was led off a helicopter in lower Manhattan by a large phalanx of police officers and New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

That spectacle and other statements by public officials suggest Mangione may not be able to get a fair trial, his lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo said at Monday’s hearing.

“They are treating him like he is some sort of political fodder, some sort of spectacle,” Agnifilo said. “He is not a symbol, he is someone who is afforded a right to a fair trial.”

Several dozen people gathered outside the courthouse in freezing temperatures to express support for Mangione and anger at healthcare companies.

One person held a sign with the words “DENY, DEFEND, DEPOSE,” a phrase that echoes tactics some accuse insurers of using to avoid paying out claims. Authorities say the words “deny,” “delay,” and “depose” were found written on shell casings at the crime scene.

Kara Hay, a 42-year-old schoolteacher, said she believed it was wrong for Mangione to be charged with terrorism.

“Shooting one CEO does not make him a terrorist, and I do not feel terrorized,” said Hay, who held a sign reading “innocent until proven guilty.”

After the 30-minute hearing, officers once again shackled Mangione and led him out of the courtroom. He is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal lockup in Brooklyn.

Carro set Mangione’s next court appearance for Feb. 21.

DUAL STATE, FEDERAL CASES

Monday’s arraignment was the second court appearance in New York for Mangione, who also faces a four-count federal criminal complaint charging him with stalking and killing Thompson.

He has not yet been asked to enter a plea in that case. U.S. Magistrate Judge Katharine Parker ordered Mangione detained at a Dec. 19 hearing in Manhattan federal court.

The federal charges would make him eligible for the death penalty, should the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan decide to pursue it.

The separate federal and state cases will proceed in parallel. The state case is currently expected to go to trial first, federal prosecutors said.

At the hearing, Friedman Agnifilo said it was difficult to defend her client in dual state and federal cases.

“He is being treated like a human ping-pong ball between these two jurisdictions,” Friedman Agnifilo said.

She also said the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, which brought the charges, has not handed over any evidence to the defense to help prepare for trial, a process known as discovery. A prosecutor responded that the office would begin handing over evidence soon.

According to the federal criminal complaint, the police who arrested Mangione found a notebook that contained several handwritten pages that “express hostility towards the health insurance industry and wealthy executives in particular.”

A notebook entry dated Oct. 22 allegedly described an intent to “wack” the chief executive of an insurance company at its investor conference.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New York, United States:

US authorities on Tuesday charged the man suspected of gunning down a health insurance CEO in New York earlier this month with murder, including a charge of second-degree murder “as an act of terrorism.”

Mangione, 26, is accused of shooting UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson on a Manhattan street on December 4, triggering a nationwide manhunt that ended last week when he was spotted at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s.

The former data engineer remains jailed in that state as he fights efforts to extradite him to New York to face charges there over the killing, which brought into focus widespread public anger against the US health care system.

Mangione “is charged with one count of murder in the first degree and two counts of murder in the second degree, including one count of murder in the second degree as an act of terrorism,” said Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg.

Bragg said the terrorism charge was included because the shooting met the prerequisites for such a determination under New York law.

“In its most basic terms, this was a killing that was intended to evoke terror and we’ve seen that reaction,” he said. “This was not an ordinary killing.”

The maximum penalty for the murder charges Mangione faces is life in prison without parole, Bragg said.

The suspect was also charged with several crimes related to his possession of a weapon, which authorities said was a 3D-printed “ghost gun.”

“We allege he… took out a nine-millimeter 3D-printed ghost gun equipped with a 3D-printed suppressor and shot (Thompson) once in the back and once in the leg,” said Bragg.

“These weapons are increasingly proliferating throughout New York City and the entire country. Evolving technology will only make this problem worse,” he said.

“Last year, over 80 ghost guns and ghost gun parts were recovered in Manhattan alone.”

‘Shocking and appalling’

In the wake of Thompson’s killing, many social media users have lionized Mangione, with some even calling for further killings of other CEOs.

Jessica Tisch, the New York City police commissioner, criticized members of the public who had praised the murder.

“In the nearly two weeks since Mr Thompson’s killing, we have seen a shocking and appalling celebration of cold-blooded murder,” said Tisch.

Mangione is due in Pennsylvania court on Thursday for a hearing on his extradition to New York.

Police say a “life-changing, life-altering” back injury may have motivated Mangione, although they added that there was “no indication” that he was ever a client of UnitedHealthcare.

When he was arrested, Mangione had a three-page handwritten text criticizing the US health care system.

Police have said that Mangione’s fingerprints matched those found near the crime scene, and that shell casings match the gun found on him when he was arrested.

Bragg said that the suspect traveled to New York on November 24 with the intention of murdering Thompson.

On December 4, he is alleged to have waited “for nearly an hour” outside the hotel where Thompson was shot early that morning.

“This was a frightening, well planned, targeted murder that was intended to cause shock and attention and intimidation,” said district attorney Bragg.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)