Luigi Mangione’s bid to push back his federal trial to early 2027 failed Wednesday — as a federal judge ruled he will face murder charges in the slaying of healthcare CEO Brian Thompson starting in October.
In-person jury selection for the anti-corporate activist’s trial will begin on Oct. 5, as opening statements are expected to start on Oct. 26 or Nov. 2, US District Judge Margaret Garnett ruled at a Manhattan hearing.
The judge had previously set jury selection to begin on September 8 but decided to push back the date to give Mangione’s attorneys some time between separate state and federal trials.
Attorneys for Mangione, who appeared in court wearing beige jail garb, had asked the federal judge to push back his case to early 2027 because they wanted more time between each trial.
Mangione, 27, is being represented in multiple cases at the same time, his attorneys had argued.
The small delay means Mangione’s state case in the murder of healthcare executive Brian Thompson could still kick off on 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,” the judge said in court, adding that she would make sure Mangione gets a “fair trial.”
Mangione’s attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo said in court she was just trying to get the trial delayed by a “couple of months” after arguing in papers that they were trying to push back the state trial to September — because they needed to take the rest of the year to prepare for his federal trial.
“Mr. Mangione is now in the position of needing to prepare for two complicated and serious trials at the same time,” his attorneys wrote in a March 18 letter to the judge.
Federal prosectors had opposed delaying the case.
The judge said the new schedule could be revised if Mangione’s state trial interferes with his federal case.
“Whether we like it or not we are at the mercy of the events in state case,” the judge acknowledged.
Mangione’s attorney said that Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Gregory Carro has indicted that that state case could take between four to six weeks.
Mangione, who escaped the death penalty, faces life in prison at both trials and has been accused of carrying out a targeted hit on Thompson, a father-of-two, in December 2024 on a Midtown sidewalk.
He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
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