NEW YORK (AP) — Luigi Mangione plans to assert a psychiatric defense at his state murder trial, claiming he was suffering from extreme emotional disturbance when he gunned down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a judge said Wednesday. That could mean less prison time if he's convicted.
A jury that accepts such a defense would be obligated to convict Mangione of manslaughter, which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison, instead of murder, which could put him behind bars for the rest of his life. An emotional disturbance defense isn't available in Mangione's federal case, where he also faces a possible life sentence.
New York Judge Gregory Carro announced the defense's decision in court two weeks after holding a secret hearing on the matter. He said he will unseal a transcript and other records from that hearing once redactions are made.
Carro said Mangione’s lawyers first raised the possibility of a psychiatric defense last year in a letter that was filed under seal and confirmed their decision at the June 3 hearing, which the judge said was held in secret at the defense's request.
“The reasons for the sealing was to give the defense an opportunity to determine whether they were going forth with that defense and the nature of that defense,” Carro said.
Carro said he didn't expect the development to delay Mangione's trial, which is scheduled to begin with jury selection on Sept. 8. His next pretrial hearing is scheduled for Aug. 11.
Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann said he wants Mangione evaluated by a prosecution psychiatrist. To facilitate that, Carro said, Mangione could soon be moved to New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex from a federal jail in Brooklyn, where he has been held since shortly after his December 2024 arrest.
Mangione, 28, has pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges in the Dec. 4, 2024, killing. His federal trial, which involves stalking charges, is set to begin on Oct. 13.
Mangione, sitting between his lawyers and wearing a blue suit, didn't appear to react as Carro spoke. At a February at a hearing, Mangione railed against the prospect of two trials, telling Carro: “It’s the same trial twice. One plus one is two. Double jeopardy by any commonsense definition.”
An extreme emotional disturbance defense wouldn't absolve Mangione of responsibility for Thompson's killing. It is not the same as a not guilty by reason of insanity defense, which would allow a defendant to go to a psychiatric facility instead of prison.
Mangione’s lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, said unsealing the transcript of the secret hearing and materials related to his psychiatric defense will harm him in his federal case.
“The reason why we asked for the sealing is that this defense is not available federally and Mr. Mangione is being prosecuted federally and this is prejudicial to his defense to the exact same facts,” Friedman Agnifilo said.
The judge had been set to rule on the matter Tuesday, but was forced to delay it a day because prosecutors failed to let Mangione's jail know that he was needed in court.
Thompson, 50, was killed as he walked to a Manhattan hotel for UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor conference. Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind. Police say “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.
Mangione, an Ivy League graduate from a wealthy Maryland family, was arrested five days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of Manhattan.
At a May 18 hearing, Carro ruled that a gun and notebook that prosecutors say link Mangione to the killing can be used as evidence against him. The gun, a 3D-printed pistol, matches the one used to kill Thompson, prosecutors said. The notebook describes wanting to “wack” a health insurance executive and rebelling against “the deadly, greed fueled health insurance cartel.”
On Wednesday, Carro dismissed a charge related to a gun magazine that he had ruled inadmissible because it was found during an initial search of Mangione’s backpack at the McDonald’s.
To establish an emotional disturbance defense, Mangione's lawyers must show that the disturbance was so extreme it robbed him of self-control; that, in his mind, he had a reasonable explanation or excuse for the disturbance; and that he killed Thompson while “under the influence” of that disturbance.
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This story has been corrected to show that Mangione could receive less prison time as a result of a conviction using this defense, not be sent to a psychiatric facility.
Luigi Mangione appears for a pre-trial hearing at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, Wednesday, June 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis, Pool)
Luigi Mangione appears for a pre-trial hearing at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, Wednesday, June 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis, Pool)
Luigi Mangione appears for a pre-trial hearing at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, Wednesday, June 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis, Pool)
BOSTON (AP) — Generations of Boston families played and picnicked on the grassy, sloping lawns of the Bunker Hill Monument.
Musket balls and other artifacts from one of the American Revolution’s most consequential battles were buried just below their feet the whole time.
Inspired by a centuries-old map, archaeologists have been digging in the park that sits on the site where American patriots hastily constructed an earthen fort to slow advancing British forces at what became known as the Battle of Bunker Hill.
Ground-penetrating radar identified potential locations for the fort in Boston's Charlestown section. Soon after digging the first trench, the team led by Joe Bagley, the city of Boston's archaeologist, found definitive signs of a ditch constructed hours before the battle on June 17, 1775, one of the first of the American Revolution.
“The part that’s really crazy to me is that we get to stand in the same ditch,” said Bagley, standing over one of the two dig sites, where soil is removed about 4 inches (10 centimeters) at a time, put in buckets and filtered through screens. Any items found are bagged up and identified.
So far, the dig has uncovered musket balls and parts of a musket from the battle. They also found objects likely left behind by British troops who occupied the area after the battle — including tea cups, tobacco pipes, sleeve buttons and a wig curler. There were nearly 150 combatants who died there but no human remains have been found, though a forensic archaeologist is on site to identify any bones.
“Everything about the ditch is from 1775. You’ve got musket balls, gun flints. It’s what you would expect to see,” Bagley said. “It’s pretty powerful because these things are being dropped in the middle of the battle.”
The start of the American Revolution is often associated with the Battle of Lexington and Concord, skirmishes fought on April 19, 1775. But many scholars cite Bunker Hill and June 17 as the war's first significant battle.
Rebels intended to hold off a possible British attack by fortifying Bunker Hill, a 110-foot-high (34-meter-high) slope in Charlestown across the Charles River from British-occupied Boston. But for reasons still unclear, they instead took a position on a smaller and more vulnerable ridge known as Breed’s Hill, where most of the fighting took place.
The battle ended with the rebels in retreat, but not before the British had sustained more than 1,000 casualties. Bunker Hill is often portrayed as an American victory, since the British failed to win decisively and it served to galvanize the colonies against the British.
Today, a 221-foot (67-meter) white obelisk atop Breed's Hill memorializes the battle.
On Wednesday, a church service in Charlestown will be followed by a procession that makes its way to the Bunker Hill Monument. A remembrance ceremony will be held there that includes a wreath-laying, moment of silence and musket firing demonstration. The dig also ends Wednesday.
At the dig site, Joel Bohy, a battlefield archaeologist who specializes in identifying American Revolution weaponry, marveled at what had been pulled from the dirt. One volunteer held in her hand two jagged stones — the gray one was an English gun flint while a beige one was a French gun flint. When the trigger on the musket was pulled, flint struck the steel, producing sparks that ignited the gunpowder.
They also found eight marbled-sized musket balls from both sides in the battle. The markings and shape of some bullets showed they had been fired from a distance but didn't hit anyone. If they had, the balls would have been deformed.
“You can see the ramrod mark from when the soldier rammed it down. You can the little ring on the top where it was pushed down,” Bohy said, adding that “marks on the edge of the ball” show that it had been fired.
Using pick axes and shovels, more than 1,000 provincials and residents dug through the night to construct a ditch that was 3 feet (1 meter) deep and over 6 feet (2 meters) wide. They shoveled the soil in front of the ditch to make a 6-foot-high wall or parapet that reached 150 feet (46 meters) long on each of the four sides.
A map drawn by Henry Pelham two months after the battle showed a square redoubt on Breed's Hill. But it wasn't until the dig that anyone had confirmed the shape in the map was accurate. Previous digs in the 1990s had found items related to the battle and some evidence of the ditches.
“If you come to the site, we have the monument, we have a lot of maps on display, and the landscape is beautiful. But you can’t really see the fort, the fortifications that were built,” Bagley said. “Very little of what’s here visibly is from 1775. So, this trench is the reason why all of this is here.”
Beyond locating the fort, the dig also provides visitors a chance to hold “a piece of the battle in their hand,” Bohy said. “In a way, it makes the history more dimensional when you look at these objects from the battle itself.”
Several tourists from Colorado stopped by to watch the dig. One visitor, Greg Nockleby, who had spent a week in Boston learning about American history, said watching the archaeologists at work was a “wonderful surprise.”
“A live dig happening right now to uncover our nation’s history is amazing,” he said. “To see that there has been people here who have died for our freedom and our nation is very immersive.”
Joe Bagley, the City of Boston Archeologist, left, chats with visitor Owen MacDonald, of Los Angeles, who was visiting Boston with his father John, during an archaeological dig at the site of the Battle of Bunker Hill, Monday, June 15, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Joe Bagley, the City of Boston Archeologist, holds a portion of a bottle that was unearthed during an archaeological dig at the site of the Battle of Bunker Hill, Monday, June 15, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Joe Bagley, right, the City of Boston Archeologist, talks with with Sarah Kiley Schoff, a forensic anthropologist, during an archaeological dig at the site of the Battle of Bunker Hill, Monday, June 15, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Calla Ruff, an intern from Carleton College, sifts dirt removed from an archaeological dig at the site of the Battle of Bunker Hill, Monday, June 15, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Calla Ruff, an intern from Carleton College, holds a musket ball that was removed from an archaeological dig at the site of the Battle of Bunker Hill, Monday, June 15, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
