NEW YORK — Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December, on Friday pleaded not guilty to a federal murder charge in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Mangione, 26, appeared in a Manhattan federal court to make his plea. If convicted, he could receive the death penalty.

Last week, a federal grand jury indicted Mangione on four charges. They included two counts of stalking, one count of murder through use of a firearm and a firearms offense for an allegation that he used a silencer.

Mangione is accused of shooting Thompson, 50, from behind on a Manhattan sidewalk on Dec. 4, 2024, outside a midtown hotel where the CEO was staying for an investors’ conference.

Mangione has been held in a federal jail in Brooklyn since his arrest. He entered the court wearing a mustard-colored jail suit and chatted with one of his attorneys, death penalty counsel Avi Moskowitz, before the arraignment began.

Late Thursday, federal prosecutors filed the required notice of their intent to seek the death penalty.

The process began on April 1 after U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that she would be directing federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for what she called “an act of political violence” and a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.”

Mangione is also facing state charges in New York and Pennsylvania, including first-degree murder in furtherance of terrorism, two counts of second-degree murder, weapons charges, and a count of using a forged instrument.

He has pleaded not guilty to the state charges in New York.

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