Luigi Mangione’s shifting defense strategy. A victim’s lover takes the stand. Plus, Keith Morrison's new podcast.

Dateline NBC

This episode of Dateline NBC examines the evolving legal strategy of Luigi Mangione, accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, as his defense shifts from a psychiatric 'extreme emotional disturbance' claim to an unclear stance. The episode also features testimony from a victim’s lover in the Maya Miliatte case, while covering updates on other high-profile cold cases and a new podca

Key takeaways

• Mangione's defense team initially filed a psychiatric defense based on extreme emotional disturbance but withdrew it days after a judge announced its existence.
• The judge ruled that writings found in Mangione’s backpack, including criticism of the U.S. healthcare system, are admissible as evidence.
• Prosecutors gained leverage when it was revealed Mangione considered admitting to the killing, undermining his defense strategy.

Transcript preview

Okay, let's jump in. You're listening in to the Dateline Story Meeting. There's finally been an arrest. Our producers are catching up on breaking crime news. There's great footage of the couple and these lavish parties they attended. The defendant is anxious to talk. So did he poison the Brussels brass? Welcome to Dateline True Crime Weekly. I'm Andrea Canning. It's June 25th and here's what's on our docket. In San Diego County California, prosecutors argue a wife's affair drove her husband to hexes and murder. lover takes the stand. He was messaging my head that basically his life is screwed up, his world is screwed up, he screwed up, everything is ruined. In Dateline Roundup, former Bardstown Kentucky police officer Nick Halk enters a plea to a perjury charge less than a year after his brother Brooks was convicted of killing Crystal Rogers. And the notorious missing child case of Aeton Pates gets a ruling from the nation's highest court. The Supreme Court essentially reversed the reversal. here to talk about his all new podcast series five miles from home. The compounding issue of what teenagers can sometimes do to each other for no apparent reason. It was just something I couldn't get out of my mind. But before all that, Luigi Mangioni's defense team switched up its strategy and then switched it again. murder trial. Mangione is accused of gunning down United Health Care CEO Brian Thompson back in December of 2024. It turned out though that that routine hearing revealed some major news. The judge overseeing the case announced that Mangione planned to use a psychiatric defense, asserting that he was emotionally disturbed at the time of the shooting. Then 24 hours later, Mangione's attorneys withdrew the psychiatric defense. Mangioni's attorneys withdrew the psychiatric defense. It was a head spinning couple of days and here to help us make sense of it all is NBC News legal analyst and defense attorney Danny Savalos and Dateline producer Mike Nardi. Mike and Danny thanks for being here. Thank you. Thanks Andrea. All right, so Mike, you produced the recent Dateline episode on the case with Lester. Give us a quick reminder about what happened in those early morning hours on December 4, 24. United Health Care CEO Brian Thompson was shot dead outside the Hilton Hotel in Midtown, Manhattan. Well, he was on his way there for the company's annual investors conference. A days long manhunt came to an end when the manager at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, called authorities to report that some of the customers there thought a man resembling the alleged gunman was eating breakfast. There, police took 28-year old Luigi Manioni into custody. and he was eventually charged in connection to Brian's murder. Okay, so Mangjoni has entered a not guilty plea for all the charges against him, including federal stalking charges and state murder charges. Danny, before last week's hearing, we had some hints about where his defense strategy was going. Yes, we did, and I would say the highlight has been their motion to suppress evidence. These motions are virtually never granted. and yet they got some items suppressed and kept out of evidence even though they lost on some of their other motion so their strategy so far appears to have been try to keep as much evidence out as you can as we approach trial Yeah, they kind of failed when the judge ruled that a gun found in Mangioni's backpack as well as some of his writings could be seen by the jury. So Mike, take us into the hearing that took place last Wednesday. So Manjoni came into the courthouse in downtown Manhattan. He had his head down. He was in handcuffs and as the hearing got underway the judge overseeing the state case made a stunning announcement. He was unsealing a notice for Manjioni's defense team that they would be using the affirmative psychiatric defense and emotional disturbance at the time of the killing. I guess they filed this back in September of 2025 but it had been sealed from the public. What does it even mean the psychiatric defense in a case like this? and that of course would reduce the prison time that he would be exposed to. One of the keys to EED is you have to admit that you committed the killing. So you would have to admit to the killing and then hope against hope that you can establish this distress, and the best you'll get out of it is a reduction in your penalty. What would man-gioni's defense team have to prove to prove this? three things. First, he must actually be extremely emotionally disturbed. It's got to be so extreme that it resulted in a loss of self-control. The second is that there has to be an explanation for this extreme emotional disturbance that is reasonable. And then third, the defendant has to show that he was under the influence of that extreme emotional disturbance when he committed the homicide. Not now, not during his perp walk, not in his writings in any manifesto, but at the time of the killing. Okay, so maybe Mike can help us out here. Mike, did you find anything in your reporting with Lester that would give us any insight into Mangione's state of mind and why he may have been emotionally disturbed at the time of the killing? Most of the people we spoke to describe Mangione as a normal young man. He certainly did not come across as being obsessed with the health care industry You know we even looked into this back ailment that he had suffered from there was speculation that maybe the injury is what inspired the killing or maybe would have caused this disturbance but we found no evidence of that you know in fact Lester spoke with the yoga instructor in Honolulu who had taught yoga classes to Luigi and he told us that Mangione certainly didn't come across as someone who was in debilitating pain. We also spoke with a professional soccer player who met Mangione at a bar in Bangkok and he told us that they did discuss America's health care system, but he said Mangione was not particularly angry or resentful. Mike you reported that there was a time when Mangione was off the map, friends and family couldn't account for his whereabouts. Is there the thought that that could have been where things changed for Luigi Mangioni? Certainly, certainly. And like you said, we just don't know what he was doing, we don't know what his mental or physical state might have been because he stopped posting online, his family seemed to be out of contact as well, because we understand he missed a good friend's wedding, and we know that his mom filed that missing person's report. in November just before the murder. And Mike, you read through all the writings inside his backpack. Right. What stood out to you? You know, he does write directly about the health care industry in these writings. In a letter addressed to the feds, he writes, these parasites simply had it coming. The US has the number one most expansive health care system in the world, yet we rank roughly number 42 in life expectancy. United is the fifth largest company in the U. and he goes on to say it has grown and grown but has our life expectancy? No. Danny when it comes to a potential psychiatric defense, how do writings like this fit into that, if at all? These writings are certainly interesting and they could help the defense, but unless it can be shown that it was close to the time of the shooting, it may not be relevant. In fact, more relevant to me is what we mentioned about him going off the grid. closer to the time of the shooting, that's the kind of thing I would think would be even more helpful to the defense. As we mentioned, the defense withdrew this psychiatric defense the next day. What happened? Originally I suspected that it was possible that that