Mangione’s trial for the murder of a UnitedHealthcare executive could begin before the end of the year
Listen to this article
Average 5 minutes
The audio version of this article was created by AI-based technology. It can be mispronounced. We are working with our partners to continuously review and improve the results.
Luigi Mangione’s trial for the murder of UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompson could begin before the end of the year, a judge said Friday as he considered a defense request to prevent the government from issuing a death sentence.
US District Judge Margaret Garnett said she expects Mangione’s trial to begin in December — or possibly January 2027, as federal prosecutors have suggested — if the death penalty is still on the table. If not, he said Mangione could appear in court in October.
Either way, Garnett said, he expects jury selection to begin on Sept. 8. No trial date has been set for Mangione’s murder. Prosecutors have previously said they expect the state’s case to be the first.
Garnett said he would release the written plan after looking at his calendar and reviewing notes from the conversations he had with the court coordinator.
The judge said he would rule later on the suspects’ requests to prevent prosecutors from seeking the death penalty, rule on other charges and release some evidence. Another pre-trial conference is scheduled for Jan. 30.
Mangione’s attorneys said authorities prejudiced his case by turning it around his arrest in December 2024 the spectacle of the “Marvel movie” and by publicly announcing their desire to see him killed even before he was formally charged.
At the same time, they asked Garnett to drop two of the four charges against him, including the charge of murder with a firearm that enabled the government to obtain the death penalty. They argue that there is a legal error.
Federal said prosecutors Mangione’s lawyers are wrong on both sides, arguing that the manslaughter charge is legally sufficient and that “pre-trial publicity, even if intense” is not a constitutional issue.
Any concerns about public opinion can be alleviated by carefully questioning prospective jurors about their experience of the case, prosecutors wrote in a court filing.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to federal and state murder charges, which carry a possible life sentence.
Supporters gathered in court
Friday’s hearing was Mangione’s first trip to Manhattan federal court since his April 25 trial.
A cause célèbre for people outraged by the health insurance industry, Mangione also dragged supporters to court. Others wore blue clothing and carried signs such as “Free Luigi” and “No Death to Luigi Mangione.”
Mangione, who was wearing a beige prison uniform, listened but did not speak once during the nearly three-hour hearing. After entering the courtroom, he greeted his senior lawyers, Karen Friedman Agnifilo and Marc Agnifilo, with a handshake. He nodded as he read the texts, occasionally sipping from a plastic water bottle.
In addition to the death penalty issue, Garnett is weighing a defense request — similar to his state’s — to prevent the government from using certain items found in the backpack during his arrest. The defense attorney says the search was illegal because the police did not have a search warrant.
Those items include a gun that police say is similar to the one used to kill Thompson and a notebook Mangione says he used to explain his intention to “rob” a health insurance executive.
Garnett said he is not willing to have a separate trial on the evidence issue like last month’s three-week trial in Mangione’s murder. The judge in the case said he would not rule until May.
Prosecutors said the police were justified in searching the backpack to make sure there were no dangerous items and that the gun, notebook and other evidence would eventually be found.
Suspected killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO, Luigi Mangione has received a lot of praise online recently. David Gilbert, a reporter at Wired, discusses what he saw online and why some may be praising Mangione.
Mangione was arrested in December 2024
Thompson, 50, was killed on December 4, 2024, while on his way to a Manhattan hotel for UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor conference. Surveillance video shows a masked gunman shooting him in the back. Police said “notify”, “deny” and “exclude” were written on the trees, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.
Mangione, 27, an Ivy League-educated deputy for a wealthy Maryland family, was arrested five days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 370 miles west of Manhattan.
He has already had success in fixing his state issue. In September, a judge dismissed the terrorism charges against him.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi announced last year that she was directing federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty, declaring that the death penalty was appropriate for the “planned, brutal murder that shocked America.”
Mangione’s lawyers said Bondi’s announcement, which he followed up with Instagram posts and television appearances, showed the decision was “based on politics, not expediency.” His comments tainted the grand jury system and led to his indictment weeks later, they said.
