Fox’s Jonathan Turley Says Luigi Mangione’s Guilty Plea Is a ‘Hail Mary Throw’

Fox News legal analyst Jonathan Turley broke down the “Hail Mary throw” that was Luigi Mangione’s guilty plea to federal stalking charges in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Turley joined Charlie Hurt on Fox & Friends Weekend on Saturday to dive into Mangione’s guilty plea the day prior. The 28-year-old admitted to shooting Thompson in December 2024. Mangione is still expected to face a state trial in September.

Turley said Mangione’s guilty plea is legal maneuvering to try and get remaining charges against him dropped.

The odds are in Mangione’s favor, Turley noted:

The interesting aspect about what happened yesterday is that the New York case is the case that involves the murder charges, but it is also the case and is the case that has a lower potential ceiling for the sentencing.

So in the federal case, which he just pleaded guilty to, there’s a possibility of life without parole. In the state system they don’t have that without parole option. So what he’s doing here is something of a Hail Mary throw.

He’s suggesting that perhaps the judge will bring down that sentence, give him a chance to possibly eventually leave prison at a rather advanced age, but not life without parole.

The move of the defense is to get rid of the state case under what’s called double jeopardy because the New York provision of double jeopardy is much more difficult to satisfy for the prosecutors. So the odds are in his favor, if you look at past cases, that that may in fact be dismissed.

Turley and others previously tore into Mangione’s lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo over comments made outside the Manhattan court after Mangione’s guilty plea, in which she blasted his “unfair treatment” and accused the healthcare industry of failing him, noting his debilitating back pain.

“I don’t think it helps to go in front of her courthouse and say, ‘My client’s a victim and has been unfairly treated in the system.’ That was the judge that just got endless criticism about her dismissal of key issues against Mangione,” Turley said.

Watch above via Fox News.

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