Luigi Mangione’s attorneys plan to present ‘affirmative psychiatric defense’
Luigi Mangione appears at an evidence suppression hearing at Manhattan Supreme Court on May 18, 2026 in New York City. Mangione is charged with murder in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan in December 2024. (Photo by Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Attorneys for Luigi Mangione plan to present an “affirmative psychiatric defense” at his state trial, alleging he was suffering an “extreme emotional disturbance” at the time of the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, Judge Gregory Carro said at a hearing Wednesday.
Carro ordered Mangione’s attorneys to turn over his psychiatric records to prosecutors immediately.
Carro also agreed to dismiss one of the criminal counts related to possession of a large capacity ammunition magazine.
Prosecutors consented to drop the charge after a ruling earlier this year that prohibited them from using the magazine at trial because it was improperly searched by the officers who arrested Mangione in Pennsylvania.
Mangione pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges after he was arrested for allegedly gunning down Thompson, a husband and father of two, on a Midtown Manhattan street in December 2024.
Mangione’s state trial is scheduled to begin on Sept. 8 and his federal trial is set for next year.
An exterior view of the Hennepin County Public Safety Facility where suspect Vance Boelter is being held before court appearances on June 16, 2025 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Steven Garcia/Getty Images)
John and Yvette Hoffman sat in the front row of the federal courtroom as Boelter admitted to firing multiple shots at them, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune.
When Boelter admitted that he shot Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman several times and then put a gun to her head and killed her, sobs broke out in the courtroom, KSTP reported.
Boelter initially pleaded not guilty to six federal counts, including murder, attempted murder and stalking.
This week, a Justice Department spokesperson said federal prosecutors would not seek the death penalty because a federal judge ruled earlier this year in an unrelated murder case that interstate stalking charges do not rise to the level to support a capital crime.
The crimes unfolded on June 14, 2025, when Boelter allegedly disguised himself as a police officer and fatally shot Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, at their home.
That same day he allegedly drove to the home of Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman and shot the lawmaker and his wife, Yvette, and attempted to shoot their daughter, according to prosecutors.
Following the attacks, police said they found a notebook in Boelter’s abandoned, fake police car containing a list of elected officials who investigators suspect were targeted in a plot that the Minnesota U.S. attorney described at the time as the “stuff of nightmares.”
Prosecutors said Boelter traveled to the homes of two other state lawmakers only to find no one at those locations.
Boelter has also pleaded not guilty to state charges of murder and attempted murder.
First responders at the scene of a reported acid attack in Jersey City, New Jersey, June 15, 2026. (WABC)
(NEW JERSEY) — Six people were injured, including three teenagers, in an apparently targeted acid attack in New Jersey, police said.
A juvenile has been arrested in connection with the incident, with charges pending, a police spokesperson said Tuesday.
The incident occurred Monday night in a residential area of Jersey City, officials said.
The victims were outside when “individuals riding in a vehicle drove up and threw what is believed to be sulfuric acid at them,” Kim Wallace Scalcione, a spokesperson for Jersey City’s Department of Public Safety, said in a statement.
“The incident appears to have been targeted and may have stemmed from a dispute between a large group of people earlier in the day,” she said.
The victims were transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, including skin burns and peeling. One of the victims, a 21-year-old woman, was transferred to a burn unit on Tuesday to be treated for second-degree burns to her face and scalp, Wallace Scalcione said.
Jersey City Mayor James Solomon said he has directed police to “use its full resources” on the investigation, which remains ongoing.
“My thoughts are with those hurt in this horrific attack, and I want our communities to know that violence like this has absolutely no place on our streets,” Solomon said in a statement.
The entrance of the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) that is located t the municipality of Tecoluca, in San Vicente, El Salvador, on October 12, 2023. (Alex Pena/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A Venezuelan migrant who was deported from the United States to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison last year has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, alleging he was wrongfully removed without due process.
Attorneys for Neiyerver Adrián Leon Rengel say their client’s removal violated his rights.
“Through a series of unconstitutional and ultra vires acts by high-ranking federal officials and law enforcement officers, Plaintiff Neiyerver Adrián Leon Rengel was wrongly identified as a member of the gang Tren de Aragua, repeatedly denied due process, falsely imprisoned, intentionally deceived, and — ultimately — illegally sent to El Salvador in blatant violation of a court order,” the lawsuit filed on Tuesday states.
Rengel is one of more than 250 Venezuelan nationals released to their home country from CECOT in a prisoner swap last July, after being removed from the U.S. under the Alien Enemies Act, an 18th century wartime authority used to remove noncitizens with little-to-no due process.
The Trump administration deported two planeloads of alleged migrant gang members to the El Salvador prison by arguing that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is a “hybrid criminal state” that is invading the United States.
Rengel is seeking $1.3 million in damages.
According to the complaint, Rengel presented himself at a U.S. port of entry several years ago, complied with all immigration requirements, and was awaiting an immigration hearing that was set for 2028.
“On the morning of his birthday, March 13, 2025, while he was headed to work, Plaintiff was caught in the Administration’s scheme and would soon experience the full force of its unconstitutional and unlawful policies,” the complaint states. “At the time of his arrest, the only justification offered by ICE officers was that Plaintiff’s tattoos indicated his membership in TdA. Plaintiff immediately rebutted that identification, as he has never had any affiliation with TdA or any other gang.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security disputed the allegations in the suit.
“Neiyerver Adrian Leon Rengel entered our country illegally in 2023 from Venezuela and is an associate of Tren De Aragua. This illegal alien was deemed a public safety threat as a confirmed associate of the Tren de Aragua gang and processed for removal from the U.S.,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
“We hear far too much about gang members and criminals’ false sob stories and not enough about their victims,” the statement said. “We are confident in our law enforcement’s intelligence, and we aren’t going to share intelligence reports and undermine national security every time a gang member denies he is one.”
Rengel was held at the Salvadoran prison for four months. During that time, he alleges he was beaten by guards, denied medical care, and held without contact with his family or legal counsel.
“These conditions and the physical abuse inflicted on Plaintiff were the direct, proximate result of the decisions of federal officials who placed and maintained him in constructive U.S. custody at CECOT, and they constitute cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment,” the complaint states.
