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. It wouldn’t absolve him of the Dec. 4, 2024, killing, but could free him from prison sooner.

If a jury accepts that defense, the panel would convict Mangione of manslaughter and he would face up to 25 years in prison. Alternatively, the jury could reject the extreme emotional disturbance defense and convict him of murder, which carries a potential life sentence. That defense isn’t available in his federal case.

  • GirthBrooksPLO@lemmy.world
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    14 hours ago

    “I can’t be held liable your honor because I have poorfluenza, I’m simply not rich enough to know that shooting that greedy pig in the back was wrong.”

  • Wilco@lemmy.zip
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    1 day ago

    He should roll the dice on jury nullification instead. Hell, claiming self defense from a rigged system of pain and death for profit could be gambled on … out of 12 jurors you just need one to be fed up enough with the Healthcare system to hang the whole jury. If he happened to get a not guilty verdict on some kind of creative self defense argument … that would be a precedence that changes the nation.

  • HubertManne@piefed.social
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    1 day ago

    mmm. when I heard it on the news it did not sound like he was admiting to doing it but just that when they arrested him he was in that state.

  • DigDoug@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    …have they even proven that Luigi did it?

    Unless they have, effectively admitting to it seems like a fucking stupid idea to me.

    • WoodScientist@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      They won’t need to prove Luigi did it. Luigi is confessing here. That’s exactly what Luigi is doing here - admitting he did it.

      That’s the whole point of an affirmative defense. Self-defense is another example of an affirmative defense. You say in court, “I do not contest the facts of the case. I indeed pulled a trigger on a gun, fired a bullet at someone, and killed them. The facts of my actions are not in dispute. However, what I did was OK because it was self defense, which I will prove for reasons X, Y, and Z.”

      By taking a mental health defense, Luigi’s team are admitting that he was the one that pulled the trigger. It’s a confession, but one that says “I did it, but I shouldn’t be held responsible for it.”

      Now, maybe some might still cling to the idea that the whole thing is a complete frame job. But the fact that they’re going for the insanity defense shows the evidence is probably pretty damning. Insanity defenses rarely work. And in the rare cases they do, they usually result in people serving longer terms in a mental hospital than they would in prison. Insanity defense are nearly impossible to succeed and are anything but a get-out-of-jail-free card.

      I hope he succeeds on the insanity defense claim. But at this point, it’s pretty clear that the defense is conceding the point that Luigi did it. They aren’t going to try and claim in court that evidence is fake or planted.

      • DigDoug@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        With the obvious caveat that I’m not a lawyer - if Luigi’s defence thinks this is the best strategy, then I think the case is as good as lost; he may as well plead guilty and stop wasting the court’s time. He won’t get any clemency - he (allegedly) killed a wealthy person.

      • SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        If you can show the defendant did any planning then made a significant effort to cover their tracks it shows rational thought and knowledge that it was a crime.

      • Randelung@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        The US legal system is incredibly fucked. You take plea deals even though you’re innocent because if you don’t, the judge and prosecutor are so biased they’ll lock you up with hardly a shed of evidence, or the legal costs will bankrupt you and your family, or you’ll spend years behind bars before a sentence is decided on. So he might just have to take a tactical approach because “there was a gun” and the jury would probably convict, anyway - because of course they’re chosen for their biases, too.

      • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        Dude what good is a million dollar legal teams opinion when you have random half assed comments?! I mean, their personal opinion is something about photos being shady. So there! Checkmate.

    • ohulancutash@feddit.uk
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      1 day ago

      He’ll never convince an impartial jury he didn’t do it. All he has is procedural objections and diminished capacity.

      • Jax@sh.itjust.works
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        2 days ago

        How many people do health insurers need to harm before idiots like you learn your place?

        • YawningNostalgia@thelemmy.club
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          6 hours ago

          I have had to argue with my insurance company, UHC, for a hospitalization that was 100% warranted. They kept me for 5 days and the docs tried to persuade me to stay for another but I was going stir crazy at that point because I felt better. I was dangerously sick and dehydrated when I went in with uncontrollable nausea and diarrhea and my heart rate at rest was 140, I was in agonizing pain, and I couldn’t walk. I had infusions running that entire time. How are they gonna tell me my hospitalization was unnecessary because some nursing notes said I was laying in bed comfortably? Yeah, because I was on oxycodone and getting better, dipshits.

          I know I can win this argument but it’s going to require a ton of phone tag and talking to people who don’t know shit and escalating and that’ll easily be half of my Monday. So much productivity going to bullshit jobs that only exist to justify themselves.

          • Jax@sh.itjust.works
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            5 hours ago

            Literally wasting time and causing you more stress because they’re trying to renege on a deal you’ve already paid for.

            Horseshit. I’m sorry you gotta go through the ringer for something that should be as easy as possible.

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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    claiming he was suffering from extreme emotional disturbance when he gunned down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a judge said Wednesday.

    I’d rather see the argument that it was the only logical response to an illogical environment.

    It’s not that “everyone’s going crazy” these days, it’s that corporations and oligarchs aren’t withholding their end of the social contract, and forcing the cognitive dissonance on everyone that we still need to follow it will continue to lead to events like this.

    It’s bigger than Luigi and whatever that CEOs name was.

    This is just how people will react when they no longer believe society has their backs. And modern American society 100% does not have anyone’s back except oligarchs and corporations.

    But the effect of the shooter’s actions is quantifiable and resulted in claims getting approved and a shit ton of lives saved.

    Like, that’s going to be the big sticking point of this trial, it’s a trolley problem jury trial. I still think he’s getting off, even if they can prove it was him.

        • OryxAndCake@slrpnk.net
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          2 days ago

          Luigi already did one, so what are you waiting for?

          Talking big about revolutions and beheading people when you clearly have no intention of actually doing either, is honestly kinda pathetic.

                • OryxAndCake@slrpnk.net
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                  Revolution against capitalism isn’t something I think is possible, they literally have all the money and power in the world and that is not a fight we can win.

                  Plus they aren’t spending any of their trillions to fix climate change (not that they even could at this point), so what’s the point in fighting for, or even dreaming of, a better future, when the rest of this century is going to involve the deaths of multiple billions of people to drought, famine, technological collapse, bad weather and run away heating.

                  So instead of spouting hollow platitudes about beheading billiomaires and needing revolutions, I’ve spent my energy elsewhere, mainly by studying climate science and enjoying what little health I have left.

      • YawningNostalgia@thelemmy.club
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        I just had this conversation with my therapist where I said I don’t think that I’m necessarily depressed, but am being acted upon by the men who move only in dimly lit halls and determine my future for me, and I feel distant from others, and don’t do enough fun things. And she was like, yeah, probably.

    • volore@scribe.disroot.org
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      2 days ago

      the only sane response to an insane world is to reject it wholeheartedly, possibly by lashing out; it is the most damaged among us who embrace it unreservedly.

  • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
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    2 days ago

    In an insane world, some something let him go.

    I instantly had a good response in my head and then I saw that shitbag who said to lock him up and lost it. Thanks, dick. You made me mad twice.

    • Aneb@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      In a sane world we wouldn’t have Trump as president or Musk as the first trillionare. In a sane world we would have switched to nuclear and discovered cold nuclear fusion. Adopted electric cars sooner, vaccinations, raccoons as domesticates pets.

  • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 🇮 @pawb.social
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    2 days ago

    Just reminded me of something I heard on an Ask a Lawyer video recently:

    “Some people who aren’t insane plead insanity, and some people who are very insane don’t.”

    This is a case where I believe he was driven insane by the bullshit surrounding healthcare.

  • leftzero@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 days ago

    Given the vast number of people who are currently also suffering from CEO-induced extreme emotional disturbance, the bastards should be shitting their pants in abject terror right now…

    • ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net
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      2 days ago

      The shooting happened over a year ago. I think it’s time to stop dreaming that this will start some sort of revolution. Since the shooting poor people go way poorer, Elon has trillion dollars now, no other attacks happened. All the CEOs simply got better security, they are not terrified right now.

  • CultLeader4Hire@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Wow, very disappointing. wtf is the point of his high profile high cost lawyer is she’s going this route?