Manhattan judge postpones federal case against Luigi Mangione

Molly Crane-Newman, New York Daily News on Apr 1, 2026

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NEW YORK — Amid a scheduling nightmare presented by his dueling state and federal cases, a Manhattan judge on Wednesday pushed back the schedule in the federal case against Luigi Mangione, saying his right to a fair trial was “paramount.”

Lawyers for the Maryland man accused of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a Midtown sidewalk are now expected to begin presenting evidence to a jury on Oct. 26 or Nov. 2 at the latest, Manhattan Federal Judge Margaret Garnett ruled. Prospective jurors are slated to undergo questioning on Oct. 5.

The federal trial had been slated to begin Sept. 8, months after Mangione is scheduled to fight state-level homicide charges brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office two blocks away. That trial is scheduled to start June 8.

“There’s really no way around taking into account the events in the state case involving the same defendant because what is happening at 100 Centre inevitably affects the way that we structure things here,” Garnett said in court.

Acknowledging the parties “were somewhat at the mercy” of the state court proceedings against Mangione, the judge said her chief concern had to be Mangione’s right to a fair trial.

“Some things are going to be outside of our control, and that’s the nature of the situation we’re in because of these dual prosecutions.”

Garnett said the new schedule was subject to being revisited if state trial matters interfered with Mangione’s federal case.

Federal prosecutors had opposed delaying the case. In court Wednesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Dominic Gentile indicated the feds were anxious to show the public their evidence. He made reference to the throngs of Mangione supporters who view him as a folk hero, people critical of the expensive U.S. health care industry who have shown up to his appearances in droves.

“Your honor need only look out the window to see the people who follow this defendant and believe that what he did was right,” the prosecutor said.

Mangione’s lawyers, who spoke with Garnett about their defense strategies in a sealed discussion before Wednesday’s proceedings, had implored her to push back the federal case by several months, arguing the back-to-back trials would severely limit Mangione’s ability to participate in his defense.

“As a result of these competing schedules, Mr. Mangione is now in the position of needing to prepare for two complicated and serious trials at the same time. This scenario violates several of Mr. Mangione’s constitutional rights,” Karen Friedman Agnifilo wrote in a March 18 filing.

Mangione has pleaded not guilty in both cases to charges stemming from the Dec. 4, 2024, killing of 50-year-old Thompson outside the Hilton Hotel in Midtown.

In his federal case, he faces stalking offenses. Garnett, in January, dismissed the top charges initially brought against Mangione by the Justice Department, including the death penalty-eligible offense of murder through the use of a firearm, finding it was unsupported by the stalking offenses.

The 27-year-old’s lawyers also managed to get the top counts tossed from his state case, with Justice Gregory Carro, in September, dismissing terrorism offenses and finding Bragg’s office has misapplied a statute enacted in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks.

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