Luigi Mangione, the 28-year-old accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare Chief Executive Brian Thompson, may use a psychiatric defense in his upcoming state trial. According to experts, this could be his best bet given the strength of the evidence against him.

Potential Defense Strategy

Mangione’s lawyers have not commented on their defense strategy, but a former prosecutor suggested that a not guilty by reason of insanity defense could be a viable option. This defense would require Mangione to prove that he did not know what he was doing was wrong at the time of the shooting.

A psychiatric defense could also offer a path for Mangione’s lawyers to try to make him sympathetic to the jury. Forensic psychologist Kris Mohandie predicted that there would be a mental defense in the case, pointing to what he called a “significant change” in Mangione’s behavior before Thompson’s killing.

Extreme Emotional Disturbance Defense

Another affirmative defense available to New York criminal defendants is that they were acting under the influence of an extreme emotional disturbance spurred by an event that made them temporarily lose control. If a jury finds a defendant has proved by a preponderance of evidence he acted because of an extreme emotional disturbance, or EED, the crime is reduced from murder to manslaughter, which carries far less prison time.

Mangione’s lawyers may try to tap into a juror’s potential frustration with the healthcare industry by introducing his thought process about it. However, such a defense can give prosecutors more information to work with, allowing them to subpoena medical records and interview a defendant’s family members.

Original reporting: El Paso News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.