By John Thompson
As most all of you know, Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty to federal stalking charges in relation to his hunting down and killing the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson. Mangione justified the murder by saying he had long-term back pain and that he heard that United Healthcare denies procedures that might help people get care. It should be pointed out that there is no proof thus far that Mangione was even a client of UHC. Regardless, Mangione’s next big court appearance is set for September 8th, 2026, in New York state court. It is reported that he is facing Second Degree Murder charges in state court. That charge is very important, but not everyone may know what it means. Let’s have a quick talk about the law of homicide and what the various homicide charges mean and/or require.
READ MORE: 'I Knew What I Was Doing': Luigi Mangione Drops a Bombshell Guilty Plea
Luigi Mangione Case Takes a Shocking Turn
What Is a Homicide? – Actus Reus + Mens Rea
Generally, a homicide is any killing of another, combined with some manner of unlawful intent. The actual mechanism of death can be a virtually unlimited number of possibilities, but the bottom line is that someone actually caused the death as opposed to a person who may have passed away due to natural causes. The unlawful cause can be some form of an accident, or it can be intentional. That is what is called your "actus reus" — your unlawful act.
The next thing that must be proven is what is called the "mens rea" — essentially, the mental state or intent of the actor at the time of the homicide. A tremendous amount of importance is attached to the intent of the defendant, and of course a jury determines that intent from the circumstances surrounding the actual homicide. The more reckless or intentional the state of mind of the killer, the more serious the consequences.
In its simplest form, a homicide is a bad act resulting in the death of another, combined with bad intent.
The Degrees of Seriousness of Different Types of Homicides
One consideration here is that the law differs from state to state, and this note is not intended to be exhaustive; otherwise it would be a book. Also, there are nooks and crannies about the various categories of homicide that could make up substantial rabbit holes in any single jurisdiction — things like the felony-murder rule, imperfect self-defense, and other mitigation or aggravation to an actor’s mental state. We are going to skip most of those nuances and go from least serious to most serious homicide.
Involuntary Manslaughter – an “Invol”
Succinctly, an involuntary manslaughter is an unlawful killing when the actor did not have the intent to kill nor a conscious disregard for life, but they did exercise criminal negligence. An example might be running a red light and killing a pedestrian or maybe leaving a toddler unattended next to or near a swimming pool. Sentences upon conviction vary, but prison is fairly likely.
Voluntary Manslaughter – a “Vol”
Voluntary manslaughter combines the killing of another with a more serious intent, for instance imperfect self-defense (e.g., bringing a knife to a fist fight) or under what is called "the heat of passion." The classic example of "heat of passion" is the scenario where a husband comes home early from work one day with roses for his wife, wanting to surprise her. He goes up to the bedroom and finds his wife in bed with his best friend. Grabbing his gun, he kills them both. The husband had the intent to kill, but his mental state is mitigated by the heat of passion. As you can imagine, many defendants do their best to try and stretch the meaning of that phrase.
Second Degree Murder – a “2nd"
Second degree murder is a killing done with the specific intent to kill, but without premeditation and deliberation. An example might be a fight that gets out of hand, and someone draws a gun or a knife and kills another, but not in self-defense or in the heat of passion. It can also be a killing done while in the course of extremely reckless conduct, without any intent to kill. A somewhat common example of that is when someone is driving under the influence and kills another in a collision of some fashion. Some jurisdictions will charge that as a “2nd."
A typical sentence for a 2nd is something that is called an "indeterminant sentence," meaning no set number of years. You might see a sentence of "15 years to life in prison," and it would be up to a parole board some time in the future to decide if the murderer should be released after the defendant has served the minimum required sentence.
First Degree Murder – a “1st"
Generally, a 1st is the same as a 2nd, but with one critically important addition: There was premeditation and deliberation before the actual killing. Premeditation and deliberation, also known as "malice aforethought," means that someone had time to consider the decision to kill and, knowing the consequences, made the decision to kill nevertheless. A decision to kill made rashly, without consideration of the consequences, will not rise to a 1st degree murder. However, a cold, calculated decision to kill can be reached quickly. It is the extent of the killer’s reflection, not the length of time, that a jury must consider. That said, charging a 1st in New York is a different beast.
Applying the Law to Mangione’s Case
The reported facts on Mangione’s case show that he planned the murder for months. Mangione ultimately traveled to the area and did "recon" for a week, produced fake identification, armed himself, and even did the most classic of premeditations: He was "lying in wait," meaning he was basically hiding and waiting for the particular victim to show up at the time of the murder. Candidly, it is hard to ever imagine a more solid case for a traditional "1st," a first-degree murder, than in Mangione’s case. And that is before you get to the factual basis he gave the federal court on the stalking charges – which can be used as evidence in the New York State case.
However, New York’s laws are somewhat different, and a 1st can only be charged when there are what amounts to special circumstances. Those special circumstances are things like murder of a police or corrections officer, murder for hire, death due to torture, and the theory used in Mangione’s case, murder committed as an act of terrorism. Notably missing is the idea of premeditation and deliberation.
The originally filed 1st against Mangione was dismissed last year by the court since the theory of the 1st was the commission of "terrorism." Mangione’s defense team will now try and mount an action to dismiss the state claim altogether based on the doctrine of "double jeopardy," meaning a defendant can’t be prosecuted twice for the same crime. Mangione will have a tough hill to climb on that issue, as the federal government is a separate sovereign from the state of New York, and thus it is outside of the traditional "double jeopardy" protections. Further, the judge in the state case has seemingly indicated that he is not likely to grant that motion. However, if Mangione is looking at life in prison, it’s not like he has anything at all to lose by bringing that motion to dismiss.
Finally, let’s speculate a bit on how this might end. By pleading to the federal stalking charges, but not the murder, Mangione took "death" off the table as a penalty in federal court. Additionally, federal judges have nearly unlimited discretion when fashioning a sentence. Thus, in federal court it is possible, though extremely unlikely, that Mangione gets a set smallish number of years in prison. It is far more likely that he’ll get decades in prison or, indeed, life in prison. In Mangione’s state court case, he is likely to get sentenced to "15-to-life" on his 2nd, and maybe some consecutive time added on for the weapons charges. The final issue becomes a question of where he serves his time. He will do whatever he can to try and serve his time in federal prison. Given the choices Mangione has, the federal system is an infinitely better place to spend what will likely be the rest of his life.
John Thompson is a former prosecutor from Southern California who spent years assigned to a specialized Gang Enforcement unit.
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