Yesterday, Ed wrote about the fact that Luigi Mangione’s attorneys were adopting a psychiatric defense for their client. The plan was to claim the murder was carried out in a state of “extreme emotional disturbance” which as Ed explained is similar to a diminished capacity defense. If the defense were able to prove the extreme disturbance, then Mangione would only be facing first degree manslaughter instead of murder.
However, someone seems to have had second thoughts because today Mangione’s lawyers backtracked and abandoned plans to present that defense.
Luigi Mangione’s attorneys on Thursday informed the judge in his New York state murder case that they would withdraw their plan to argue at trial that he killed UnitedHealthcare’s chief executive while suffering an extreme emotional disturbance.
The notice came in a court filing one day after a hearing in which Mangione’s attorneys had indicated they would argue a psychiatric defense…
At a hearing Wednesday, Judge Gregory Carro said he planned to unseal records related to an affirmative defense available to New York state criminal defendants charged with murder, in which the accused admits to the charged conduct but argues they should not be held fully criminally liable because he or she acted while experiencing a mental health episode.
However, in light of the defense’s withdrawal, Carro said Thursday he would keep those records sealed.
So what defense will his attorneys pursue. That’s not clear and, at the moment, no one seems to be talking. It’s not even clear why they changed their minds at this point.
I could see them dropping this defense if there were some hope of a plea deal but so far as anyone is saying that’s not on the table. Mangione’s guilt is pretty well established and most of the important evidence in the case was not thrown out of the trial (as the defense may have hoped). Specifically, both the gun and the journal will be allowed in. Prosecutors have shell casings from the scene which match the gun and the manifesto in the journal contains proof of Mangione’s motive for the attack.
In fact, the writing in the journal seems to confirm that Mangione had planned this carefully and was fully aware of right and wrong as he sought to avoid any bystander casualties.
Prosecutors have said they plan to introduce evidence from a diary seized during Mangione’s arrest that details his alleged plans to kill the CEO and allegedly describes what to do if you want to “rebel against the deadly, greed fueled health insurance cartel.”
“Wack the CEO at the annual parasitic bean-counter convention,” the diary says, according to a filing from the district attorney’s office. “It’s targeted, precise, and doesn’t risk innocents.”
In short, Mangione wasn’t crazy in the technical sense. He knew what he was doing was wrong and did it anyway.
His trial is scheduled for September. At this point I’m not sure why the defense is bothering, unless they hope to get lucky with jury nullification. I don’t see any other way he’s going to escape a conviction.
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