A plea of insanity might not be a wise move for the suspected UnitedHealthcare CEO shooter Luigi Manigone, prominent defense attorney Benjamin Brafman told Jake Tapper Monday on CNN’s “The Lead.”
But an alternative plea of “extreme emotional disturbance” could work, he added.
“I think a smarter defense might be extreme emotional disturbance, because an insanity defense requires that you not know right from wrong, and here it’s clear that he targeted this individual, so he obviously knew that it was wrong,” Brafman explained.
Watch the CNN segment below:
Mangione was apprehended at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s and arrested in connection with the shooting death of Brian Thompson on Dec. 9. He was charged with second degree murder, forgery and three related gun crimes in New York City. Thompson was shot ahead of an investor meeting on Dec. 4.
“I think insanity defense is not an appropriate defense under the facts of this case,” Brafman said. “He premeditated this execution. He wrote about it in a manifesto. He went through great efforts to hide he had forged a driver’s license that got him into the hostel and they arrested him with the gun that was apparently used in the execution.”
Mangione wrote the words “deny,” “delay” and “depose” on bullet casings found at the scene of the shooting, an apparent reference to the book “Delay, Deny, Defend” by Jay M. Feinman. “The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert tore into Mangione’s alleged 262-word manifesto days after his arrest.
“That’s not a manifesto, that’s a mini-festo!” Colbert said. “He could’ve just made it a Yelp! review. ‘American healthcare sucks, one star.’ Much nicer.”
On Sunday, Mangione hired attorney and former CNN analyst Karen Friedman Agnifilo to represent him in court. Mangione is meanwhile fighting extradition to New York and is currently held in Pennsylvania on charges related to a gun and fake ID authorities found when he was arrested.
Watch a clip from Brafman’s CNN appearance in the video above.
