June 19 (UPI) — Lawyers for Luigi Mangione withdrew their plan to use a psychiatric defense in his New York state trial.

Mangione, 28, and his lawyers had planned to argue that he was suffering from “extreme emotional disturbance” when he allegedly shot and killed Brian Thomson, 50, CEO of UnitedHealthcare in December 2024. Mangione was arrested five days later in an Altoona, Pa., McDonald’s.

Mangione faces eight felony charges, including second-degree murder. He is also facing a federal trial on similar charges, plus a stalking charge. The state trial is set to begin in September.

Judge Gregory Carro had said on Wednesday that he would unseal a notice from September about the affirmative psychiatric defense and emotional disturbance. But on Thursday, he said they would stay sealed.

NBC News reported that a transcript released Thursday showed Mangione’s legal team told the judge in early June that logistics for the federal case were making it difficult to use the emotional disturbance defense. They also faced challenges finding doctors willing to participate because of the notoriety of the case.

Legal analyst Richard Schoenstein told NPR that by removing the psychiatric defense, Mangione’s team “is avoiding the court deadline to produce its psychiatric evidence.”

But removing the strategy “does not entirely foreclose” the defense from using some form of psychiatric argument in the trial, but Schoenstein said using that defense would be much more difficult.

Some of the evidence found by police at his arrest was ruled inadmissible in trial, but the Carro ruled that a diary found in a later search is usable.

Prosecutors say the diary describes his plans to kill Thompson and how to “rebel against the deadly, greed-fueled health insurance cartel,” NBC reported.

“Wack the CEO at the annual parasitic bean-counter convention,” the diary says, according to a court filing from the district attorney’s office. “It’s targeted, precise and doesn’t risk innocents.”