8.14.26 Statement by Karen Friedman Agnifilo
Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Karen Friedman Agnifilo and I represent Luigi Mangione. Today is a solemn and significant day. With today's guilty plea, Mr. Mangione has accepted full responsibility for the death of Brian Thompson arising from the events of December 4th, 2024, outside the UnitedHealthcare investor conference here in Midtown Manhattan. It was a single tragic event, yet he is being prosecuted twice for the same conduct.
As Luigi explained in court today, he endured years of severe, debilitating pain following a broken back while struggling to navigate our healthcare and health insurance systems. Like the thousands of people who have reached out since this tragedy to share their own experiences, he believed that system had failed him and destroyed his life.
Despite this being a single isolated event, Mr. Mangione has been unfairly treated since the outset in every way and has successfully fought off terrorism charges and the death penalty while also fighting at the same time two simultaneous prosecutions in two jurisdictions who are trying to punish him twice for the exact same conduct. He has been treated differently from every other defendant charged with this offense in New York. However, thankfully, New York law doesn’t allow this. New York law does not permit a person to be prosecuted and punished twice for the exact same crime under a statute that governs successive prosecutions that is also known as the double jeopardy law. Today's guilty plea triggers this statute, and we just filed our motion in state court explaining why the state charges must be dismissed under New York's double jeopardy protections.
We will not be taking any other questions. Thank you so much for coming.