.Luigi Mangione has pleaded guilty to both counts of stalking in Federal court in connection with the killing of UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson.  He should have received the death sentence.

     During a hearing in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in Lower Manhattan on Friday, U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett asked Mangione, 28, how he pleaded to counts one and two.  Mangione answered, “guilty.”  While speaking of the December 2024 day that Thompson died, Mangione said, “I knew what I was doing was illegal.”  Mangione, 28, is scheduled to appear in federal court at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in Lower Manhattan before U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett on Friday.

     Mangione met with his lawyers  at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn in advance of Friday’s federal court hearing, according to a source familiar with the matter cited by NBC News. It is unclear if the suspected gunman will plead guilty to one or both of the two stalking related charges: travel in interstate commerce resulting in death and use of interstate facilities (such as a phone and internet) resulting in death. He is also able to reverse his plea decision at any time, even during the hearing.A source familiar with the situation reportedly emphasized that plea negotiations were ongoing and that nothing was certain until Mangione himself entered his plea.

     If convicted of either charge, the suspect could face a life imprisonment sentence.  In January, Garnett dismissed one count of discharging a firearm equipped with a silencer during a crime of violence and one count of murder through the use of a firearm, eliminating the possibility of the death penalty at the federal level.