Luigi Mangione Withdraws Plan to Use Psychiatric Defense

[00:00:00]This morning a stunning U-turn for Luigi Mangione. His legal team formally notifying the judge in his state criminal case that the 28-year-old is withdrawing his psychiatric defense.

[00:00:12]Mangione faces eight felony charges in New York including second-degree murder for the shooting death of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. If his defense was able to prove extreme emotional disturbance, a possible conviction could have been reduced to first-degree manslaughter. Now, that's off the table.

[00:00:31]>> It might be that as the deadline approached, their expert witness or the records and documents just didn't support the defense they wanted to present.

[00:00:39]>> The filing dropped the same day the court released this transcript from a June 3rd hearing in which Mangione's lawyer told the court they'd been exploring the psychiatric defense since as far back as September and also made clear that if a defendant goes with an EED defense, they're essentially admitting publicly that they committed this crime. His lawyer also argued that making the EED defense public prejudices both this case and the federal case because of the extraordinary publicity affecting potential jurors.

[00:01:09]>> Whether it's pleading insanity or extreme emotional distress, either way is a gambit because it requires the defendant to admit to the killing.

[00:01:19]There's risk involved.

[00:01:22]>> The reversal amounts to another setback for Mangione's defense and comes a month after the court allowed the alleged murder weapon to be admitted as evidence as well as a notebook prosecutors have described as Mangione's manifesto.

[00:01:35]>> That will be removed.

[00:01:37]>> Still, fierce public attention on the case continues just months away from Mangione's trial.

[00:01:44]>> We reached out to the Manhattan District Attorney and to Mangione's legal team.

[00:01:48]Both declined to comment. It is worth noting the filing comes this same day as a court-ordered deadline to turn over any reports of medical records intended to show that Mangione was experiencing EED at the time of the murder. Because of the reversal, the judge ordering those records will remain sealed. Laura.

[00:02:05]>> All right, we'll see where it goes.

[00:02:06]Thank you, Erin.

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