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A lawyer for the accused assassin Luigi Mangione called the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office’s proposed trial date “unrealistic” as the former Ivy Leaguer’s legal team prepares for a parallel trial in federal court.
“This is the first time that the defense is hearing about this request,” Karen Friedman Agnifilo said in a statement Wednesday evening, after court filings revealed Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s office had requested a start date of July 1.
“The federal government already has a firm trial date set in September,” she said. “As a practical matter, Mr. Mangione’s defense team will require the remainder of the year to prepare for that trial. We will respond to the court about this unrealistic request in the coming days.”
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U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett tentatively set federal jury selection for Sept. 8, with the trial to start either in the fall or winter, depending on how she rules on a defense motion to dismiss the two most serious charges.
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If the defense succeeds in dismissing the most serious charge, murder through use of a firearm, the potential death penalty would be removed, and the trial would begin earlier.
Assistant Manhattan District Attorney Joel Seidemann called the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson a “cold-blooded execution” in a letter to New York Judge Gregory Carro Wednesday.
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Read the letter:
Seidemann wrote that it was the NYPD that led the investigation, that Mangione was first indicted by a state judge and that federal prosecutors did not become involved until after the suspect had been arrested.
He said the state has an interest in taking Mangione to trial before the feds do.
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“In sum, the state has an overriding interest in trying this defendant for the cold-blooded execution of Brian Thompson on December 4, 2024,” he wrote. “It resulted in the tragic death of a guest to our city on our streets. Federal law supports our request that we proceed first, and our right to a speedy resolution of this case would be severely compromised should the federal trial proceed first.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, which is handling Mangione’s federal case, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the July 1 request.
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Mangione faces a stiffer potential sentence at the federal level if convicted. In New York, Judge Carro already gave Bragg’s office a blow when he dismissed terrorism charges that would have carried a maximum sentence of life without parole.
If Mangione were convicted of second-degree murder in New York, parole would be on the table.
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He also faces lesser charges in Pennsylvania, where police arrested him days after Thompson’s murder in New York City.
Thompson, a 50-year-old father of two, lived in Minnesota and came to the Big Apple for a business conference with Wall Street investors. Surveillance video shows a hooded gunman approach him from behind outside the host hotel and shoot him multiple times in the back.
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Federally, Mangione faces charges including interstate stalking and murder through use of a firearm.
He has pleaded not guilty.
Fox News’ Maria Paronich contributed to this report.
