Luigi Mangione’s federal trial in UnitedHealthcare CEO killing pushed back

A judge on Wednesday delayed the federal trial of Luigi Mangione, the 27-year-old man accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare chief executive Robert Thompson outside a New York City hotel.

Mangione’s federal trial is now set to begin with jury selection Oct. 5, followed by opening statements on Oct. 26 or Nov. 2, U. S. District Judge Margaret Garnett said at a hearing in downtown Manhattan. Jury selection was previously set to start Sept.

8, with opening statements scheduled for Oct. 13. Mangione’s lawyers asked Garnett to postpone the federal proceedings until January because he also faces a New York state murder trial that is set to begin June 8.

The defense argued that the overlap would make it difficult for Mangione to prepare for the federal case. Garnett said the more modest delay of a few weeks would ensure Mangione’s right to a fair trial.

She expressed particular concern about the prospect of potential jurors in the federal trial filling out questionnaires while the state case was unfolding in a courthouse just “two blocks away.

” “Whether we like it or not, we are at the will of the state case,” Garnett said, adding that it’s “inevitable” and “it’s the nature of dual prosecutions. ” Mangione has pleaded not guilty in both proceedings.

He leaned forward and rested his chin on his right hand as Garnett addressed the courtroom Wednesday. In the federal case, Mangione faces two counts of stalking, which carry a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Prosecutors originally charged him with two other offenses — murder through use of a firearm, which carried a potential death sentence, and a related firearms count — but Garnett dismissed those charges in late January.