Luigi Mangione's lawyers are pivoting when it comes to their defense strategy as his state murder trial looms ... and jury selection is going to be key.
TMZ's own Harvey Levin has spoken with sources in the know and -- as he explains in this YouTube video published Tuesday -- he's told Mangione's team is banking on some younger jurors who want to acquit Luigi no matter what the law says.
Lots of folks who are under 35 support political violence in certain circumstances ... and if Luigi's team can get some of these people on the jury, that would really help Luigi ... and harm the prosecution.
4:05 PM PT -- Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ there have been no plea bargain negotiations between prosecutors and the defense team.
Luigi Mangione may be mulling over a guilty plea, because a new report states his lawyers have discussed a deal with prosecutors ... but Luigi's team calls the report an intentional attempt to prejudice their client.
According to ABC News ... the alleged murderer's legal team and federal prosecutors have discussed a possible plea ahead of a court hearing scheduled for Monday.
4:37 PM PT -- Sources with knowledge tell TMZ ... Luigi's lawyers will resurrect the Extreme Emotional Distress defense as they get closer to the trial date. We're told the reason they backed off now is that they are doing more psych evaluations with Luigi and don’t want to turn over the records until they are complete. They also don’t want to play their hand until they get closer to trial.
It's a shocker for sure ... Luigi Mangione has backed off his core defense that was just announced in court yesterday, but there may be more to this story than meets the eye.
As we reported, the judge in his New York State murder trial revealed Wednesday ... Luigi's lawyers were mounting a novel defense called Extreme Emotional Disturbance. Short story -- it essentially means he was out of his head when he shot and killed United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
TMZ has reported extensively on Mangione's obsession with corporate greed ... and the defense planned to argue that obsession created an altered state in which Luigi felt he fired the gun to save humanity. If the jury bought the argument, it would reduce the murder charge to manslaughter.
