Federal Judge Sets January Trial Date for Luigi Mangione

Luigi Mangione’s federal court hearing Monday was delayed after he became trapped in an elevator with U.S. Marshals inside the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse in lower Manhattan, according to a court official familiar with the incident. Mangione, who is facing two counts of stalking in the killing of UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompson, remained shackled at both his hands and feet while building engineers worked to free him.

More than 30 minutes late, he entered the courtroom wearing a tan prison uniform through a door normally reserved for the judge.

Trial Schedule At the hearing, U.S.

District Judge Margaret Garnett announced that jury selection for Mangione’s federal trial would begin Jan. 5, with opening statements scheduled for Jan. 25. The trial is expected to last two to three weeks. The federal trial had originally been planned for the fall, but scheduling conflicts with Mangione’s state murder trial, set to begin Sept.

8, prompted the change. In the state case, Mangione faces a second-degree murder charge and several counts related to criminal possession of a weapon. “In my view, it’s simply impossible to be moving through the jury selection process in this case while the defendant and his counsel are fully occupied by conducting the state trial,” Garnett said.

Garnett focused on how to select an impartial jury amid extensive media coverage. She outlined an extensive screening process using written questionnaires for hundreds of prospective jurors before in-person questioning. The questionnaires will focus on potential bias, while in-person questioning will target biographical information such as age, residence, and occupation.