A decide on Wednesday granted Luigi Mangione solely a slight delay of his federal trial within the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, shifting it from September to October as a substitute of subsequent 12 months, as his attorneys had needed.
U.S. District Decide Margaret Garnett tied her resolution to the schedule of Mangione’s state homicide trial, which is ready to start June 8 and take 4 to 6 weeks. She rejected a protection request to postpone the federal case till January or February 2027 in order that it might then search to delay the state case till September.
Mangione’s attorneys had argued that back-to-back trials on a compressed timeline would violate his constitutional rights. Nevertheless, Garnett mentioned their proposal to push the federal case into 2027 and slot the state case as a substitute doesn’t “solve any of these problems because it shifts the very same problems from the summer to the fall.”
Jury choice within the federal case will start on Oct. 5 as a substitute of Sept. 8, adopted by opening statements and testimony on Oct. 26 as a substitute of Oct. 13, Garnett mentioned. The schedule might change once more if the state trial is delayed, she mentioned.
Mangione, 27, has pleaded not responsible. He faces the potential of life in jail if he’s convicted in both case.
“There really is no way around taking into account the events in the state case,” Garnett mentioned at a listening to in Manhattan federal court docket. Nevertheless, she mentioned, “I am skeptical of moving the (federal) trial wholesale into 2027 when the state trial has not been adjourned. it is a little bit of a tail wagging the dog.”
Together with the brand new trial date, Garnett compressed preparations for jury choice within the federal case in order that they don’t overlap with the state trial, giving Mangione extra time to overview questionnaires crammed out by a whole lot of potential jurors.
The decide within the state case, Gregory Carro, beforehand raised the potential of shifting the state trial to September — however provided that federal prosecutors appealed Garnett’s resolution barring them from in search of the loss of life penalty. They declined to take action.
Garnett’s ruling on Wednesday leaves Carro little room to delay the state trial, and pushing it till after the federal trial might elevate double jeopardy considerations.
The state’s double jeopardy protections kick in if a jury has been sworn in in a previous prosecution, akin to a federal case, or if that prosecution ends in a responsible plea. The instances contain completely different fees however the identical alleged course of conduct.
At a court docket listening to in February, Mangione spoke out towards the prospect of two trials, telling the decide: “It’s the same trial twice. One plus one is two. Double jeopardy by any commonsense definition.”
Thompson, 50, was killed on Dec. 4, 2024, as he walked to a midtown Manhattan resort for UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor convention. Surveillance video confirmed a masked gunman capturing him from behind.
Police say the phrases “delay,” “deny” and “depose” have been written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase utilized by critics to explain how insurers keep away from paying claims.
Mangione, a College of Pennsylvania graduate from a rich Maryland household, was arrested 5 days later after he was noticed consuming at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (370 kilometers) west of Manhattan.
His attorneys have argued that authorities prejudiced his case by turning his arrest right into a “Marvel movie” spectacle, together with by having armed officers parade him up a Manhattan pier after he was flown to New York and by publicly declaring their want to hunt the loss of life penalty earlier than he was indicted.
In January, Garnett dismissed a federal homicide cost — homicide via use of a firearm — that had enabled prosecutors to hunt capital punishment, discovering it legally flawed.
The decide, a former Manhattan federal prosecutor appointed to the bench by President Joe Biden, additionally threw out a gun cost however left in place stalking fees that carry a most punishment of life in jail.
