Luigi Mangione’s federal death penalty trial in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson could begin as early as December, a judge said Friday in Manhattan as she weighed a defense bid to stop prosecutors from pursuing capital punishment.
U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett said she expects Mangione’s federal trial to start in December, or possibly in January 2027, if the death penalty remains an option. If the death penalty is not on the table, Garnett said she expects Mangione could stand trial in October.
Garnett said she anticipates jury selection starting around Sept. 8, though she said no federal trial date had been scheduled in Mangione’s parallel state murder case. Prosecutors had previously said they expected the state case to go first.
The judge said she would issue a written schedule after reviewing her calendar and notes from conversations with the court’s jury coordinator. She also said she would rule at a later date on multiple defense requests, including efforts to prevent prosecutors from seeking the death penalty, throw out some charges, and exclude certain evidence.
Another pretrial conference is scheduled for Jan. 30, according to the hearing’s timeline discussed by Garnett. Mangione has pleaded not guilty to federal and state murder charges, which carry the possibility of life in prison.
Mangione’s lawyers argued that authorities prejudiced the case by turning his December 2024 arrest into what they called a “Marvel movie” spectacle, and by publicly declaring a desire to see him executed even before he was formally indicted. They are also asking Garnett to throw out two of the four federal charges, including the murder by firearm charge that would allow the government to seek the death penalty. In their view, the murder-by-firearm charge is legally flawed.
Federal prosecutors, in filings summarized during the hearing, countered that Mangione’s lawyers were wrong on both fronts. They said the murder charge is legally sufficient and argued that “pretrial publicity, even when intense” is hardly a constitutional crisis, adding that any concerns about public perceptions can be addressed by carefully questioning prospective jurors about their knowledge of the case.
Friday’s hearing marked Mangione’s first trip to Manhattan federal court since his April 25 arraignment. Outside the courthouse, supporters again gathered, with some wearing green clothing and carrying signs including “Free Luigi” and “No Death For Luigi Mangione.”
Mangione, wearing a beige jail uniform, was attentive during the nearly three-hour proceeding and did not speak. After entering the courtroom, he greeted his lead attorneys, Karen Friedman Agnifilo and Marc Agnifilo, with handshakes, then nodded along while reading documents and sometimes sipping from a plastic water bottle.
Beyond the death-penalty question, Garnett is weighing a defense request to bar the government from using items found in a backpack during Mangione’s arrest. The defense argued the search was illegal because police had not yet obtained a warrant. The items at issue include a gun police said matched the one used to kill Thompson, and a notebook in which Mangione purportedly described an intent to “wack” a health insurance executive.
Garnett said she was not inclined to hold a separate hearing on the evidence issue, unlike a three-week hearing last month in Mangione’s state case. In the state proceedings, a judge said he would not rule until May.
Prosecutors argued that police were justified in searching the backpack to make sure there were no dangerous items and that the gun, notebook and other evidence would have been found anyway.
Thompson, 50, was killed on Dec. 4, 2024, as he walked to a Manhattan hotel for UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor conference. Police said surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind, and that ammunition had the words “delay,” “deny” and “depose,” mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims. Mangione was arrested five days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of Manhattan.
The case has also seen progress in state court. In September, a judge threw out state terrorism charges against Mangione. And last year, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that she was directing federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty, saying capital punishment was warranted for a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.” Mangione’s lawyers argued that Bondi’s announcement—followed by Instagram posts and a TV appearance—showed the decision was “based on politics, not merit.”