Luigi Mangione appears in pretrial hearing before September trial begins
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Aug. 11, 2026, 9:42 AM EDT / Updated Aug. 11, 2026, 12:25 PM EDT
By Adam Reiss, Shayna Jacobs and Chloe Atkins
Luigi Mangione appeared Tuesday morning in a New York courtroom where plans were nearly finalized for his state murder trial, which the judge has ruled will have an anonymous jury
Mangione, 28, has pleaded not guilty to several state charges in connection with the December 2024 fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside the New York Hilton Midtown
At Tuesday’s hearing, Justice Gregory Carro ordered the parties to team up on crafting a jury questionnaire — a task that could prove challenging given the case’s notoriety. Jury selection is set to begin Sept. 8, and the trial is expected to last about six weeks
If convicted, Mangione faces up to life in prison
It was unclear when the jury questionnaire would be finalized, but Mangione’s side told NBC News that they expect to have a proposed draft this week. The parties are expected to coordinate on a survey that will address each side’s concerns and identify potential jurors who may be biased
Jurors who make it past the initial screening process will face additional vetting in a process known as voir dire. Questionnaires are designed for the parties and judge to get a preliminary sense of a jury candidate’s background and beliefs
On Tuesday, the courtroom was filled with journalists and some Mangione proponents, who were wearing green, a color that appeared to reference the Luigi character from the iconic Nintendo Super Mario games and subsequent movies
Mangione entered the courtroom from a holding area wearing a gray suit. He glanced around the room before taking his seat next to his attorneys, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, Marc Agnifilo and Jacob Kaplan
Carro ruled at the start of the hearing that the jury would be anonymous, a designation that is becoming increasingly common in high-profile cases in New York
Carro also said there would be expanded media and public access to the trial. After fielding complaints from Mangione’s defense team about potential space limitations, court administrators arranged for an overflow room
“It has always been under consideration. They had to find the physical place, and it had to be staffed,” Carro said
Prior to the conference, the defense and prosecution sparred over how much space would be available for members of the media and public to view the trial
The defense accused the Manhattan district attorney’s office of unfairly trying to limit the number of attendees, which it argued would also shape the type of coverage that the trial received
Prosecutors objected to those characterizations but also raised concerns about witness exposure
“We are particularly concerned about the possibility that a spectator in an overflow room will clandestinely record the proceedings and share any such recordings with others,” prosecutor Joel Seidemann wrote in an Aug. 10 letter
Seidemann also argued that Mangione supporters have tried to intimidate witnesses and interrupt the jury process, elevating the prosecution’s fears about the “extraordinary pressure on witnesses and potential jurors alike.”
The judge said the district attorney had no role in courtroom access planning and called the defense’s claims of meddling “a reckless mischaracterization.”
Marc Agnifilo, one of Mangione’s lawyers, said outside the courthouse that he was glad the court arranged for extra space
“I think it actually changed the complexion of the coverage of the trial. … I think there should be two overflow rooms, but I’ll take one,” Agnifilo said
Mangione’s case has garnered international headlines, with mostly female supporters who have appeared in court throughout the pretrial hearings and argue that the killing was justified
Prosecutors allege Mangione was motivated by an animus toward the health insurance industry, but he was never a UnitedHealthcare customer. He had no connection to Thompson, a father of two from Minnesota
Prosecutors say Mangione trailed Thompson and identified his movements in New York, where the prominent healthcare executive was attending his company’s investors conference
Prosecutors allege that Mangione shot Thompson from behind outside the hotel, then fled the city. He was apprehended several days later in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after a McDonald’s employee called the police
Former Manhattan prosecutor Rebecca Roiphe told NBC News that during jury selection, prosecutors will likely want to scrutinize potential jurors’ experiences in the healthcare system to weed out those who might sympathize with Mangione
“I think the prosecution is clearly going to want to keep off people who have some kind of ax to grind about healthcare,” Roiphe said
Roiphe, who is a criminal law and ethics professor at New York Law School, believes the defense will seek panelists with a “healthcare-for-all mindset.”
Roiphe said attorneys will also pay close attention to jurors’ attitudes toward law enforcement and politics, even though aspects of Mangione’s case do not seem to strictly apply to a partisan viewpoint
Mangione separately faces federal stalking-related charges in New York and has pleaded not guilty. The Justice Department was seeking the death penalty in the federal case, but that option was taken off the table earlier this year
U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett issued a ruling in January that effectively blocks New York federal prosecutors from pursuing a capital case
