By Jack Queen and Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Luigi Mangione, the man accused of fatally gunning down health insurance executive Brian Thompson on a Manhattan street, pleaded not guilty on Monday to New York state murder charges that brand him a terrorist.
Mangione, 26, was escorted into Judge Gregory Carro's 13th-floor courtroom in the New York state criminal courthouse in lower Manhattan with a court officer on each arm, and a procession of a half dozen officers following him. He was in handcuffs and shackles, and wore a burgundy sweater over a white-collared shirt.
Mangione leaned into a microphone and said "not guilty" when asked how he pleaded to the 11-count indictment, which includes three murder charges, including murder as an act of terrorism.
If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Last Thursday, Mangione was transferred from Pennsylvania to New York after deciding not to fight extradition. He was led off a helicopter in lower Manhattan by a large phalanx of police officers and New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
That spectacle and other statements by public officials suggest Mangione may not be able to get a fair trial, his lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo said at the hearing.
"They are treating him like he is some sort of political fodder, some sort of spectacle," Agnifilo said. "He is not a symbol, he is someone who is afforded a right to a fair trial."
Monday's arraignment was the second court appearance in New York for Mangione, 26.
He was arrested at a McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, five days after the brazen, pre-dawn Dec. 4 killing of Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH)'s insurance unit UnitedHealthcare, outside a hotel in midtown Manhattan where the company was gathering for an investor conference.
Mangione also faces a four-count federal criminal complaint charging him with stalking and killing Thompson. He has not yet been asked to enter a plea to those charges. U.S. Magistrate Judge Katharine Parker ordered Mangione detained at a Dec. 19 presentment on those charges.
'DENY, DEFEND, DEPOSE'
More than two dozen members of the public sat in the audience of the courtroom where Mangione was presented.
A small group of protesters had gathered outside the lower Manhattan courthouse in freezing temperatures expressing support for Mangione and anger at healthcare companies.
One person held a sign saying "DENY, DEFEND, DEPOSE," the words police say were found etched on shell casings at the crime scene. The words echo tactics some accuse insurers of using to avoid paying out claims.
While the killing of Thompson has been condemned by public officials, Mangione has been feted as a folk hero by some Americans who decry the steep costs of healthcare and the power held by insurance companies to deny paying for some medical treatments.
The federal charges would make him eligible for the death penalty, should the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan decide to pursue it.
The separate federal and state cases will proceed in parallel. The state case is currently expected to go to trial first, federal prosecutors said.
Mangione's lead lawyer, Friedman Agnifilo, said at the federal court hearing that the two sets of charges appeared to be based on conflicting theories. The state charges accuse Mangione of intending to "intimidate or coerce a civilian population" and influence policy, while the federal charges accuse him of stalking and killing an individual.
Friedman Agnifilo said the two cases seemed completely different, and she asked prosecutors to clarify whether both would continue. Dominic Gentile, a federal prosecutor, said Thursday's initial appearance was not the appropriate time to address those legal arguments.
According to the federal criminal complaint, the police who arrested Mangione found a notebook that contained several handwritten pages that "express hostility towards the health insurance industry and wealthy executives in particular."
A notebook entry dated Oct. 22 allegedly described an intent to "wack" the chief executive of an insurance company at its investor conference. (This story has been corrected to refer to Brian Thompson as a UnitedHealth executive, not chief executive, in the headline and paragraph 1)