A defense attorney for accused assassin and former Ivy League student Luigi Mangione is blasting the Manhattan District Attorneys Office for proposing what she calls an unrealistic summer trial date while his legal team is already bracing for a high-stakes federal prosecution.
According to Fox News, attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo said her team was blindsided by the timing request from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Braggs office, which is seeking a July 1 start date in state court. This is the first time that the defense is hearing about this request, Friedman Agnifilo said in a statement Wednesday evening, after court filings disclosed the DAs proposed schedule.
The federal government already has a firm trial date set in September, she continued, underscoring that the defense is already committed to preparing for a complex federal case that could carry harsher penalties. 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.
On the federal side, U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett has tentatively scheduled jury selection to begin Sept. 8, with the trial itself to follow in either the fall or winter. That timing will depend on how she rules on a pending defense motion to dismiss the two most serious federal counts, a decision that could reshape the stakes of the case.
If defense lawyers succeed in knocking out the top charge, murder through use of a firearm, Mangione would no longer face a potential death sentence under federal law. In that scenario, the federal trial could be moved up, further complicating the calendar and intensifying the clash between state and federal prosecutors over who goes first.
In a letter to New York Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro on Wednesday, Assistant Manhattan District Attorney Joel Seidemann described the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson as a cold-blooded execution. Seidemanns language reflects the DAs offices determination to assert New Yorks primacy in trying the case, even as the Biden Justice Department pursues its own prosecution.
Seidemann emphasized that it was the NYPD that led the investigation from the outset and that Mangione was initially indicted in state court before federal authorities stepped in. He argued that the state has a legitimate and pressing interest in bringing Mangione to trial ahead of the federal government, rather than ceding the lead role to Washington.
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. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of New York, which is overseeing the federal case, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the July 1 proposal. That silence leaves unresolved a growing jurisdictional tug-of-war that raises broader questions about prosecutorial priorities and coordination between local and federal authorities.
Mangione faces significantly steeper potential punishment in federal court if convicted, particularly if the firearm-murder charge survives the defense motion. In New York state court, Judge Carro has already dealt a setback to Braggs office by dismissing terrorism counts that could have resulted in life without the possibility of parole.
If Mangione were ultimately convicted only of second-degree murder in New York, he would still face a lengthy sentence, but parole would remain a possibility under state law. That contrast underscores why federal prosecutors, with their broader sentencing tools, often seek to take the lead in high-profile violent crime cases, even when local law enforcement did the initial work.
Mangione also faces additional, lesser charges in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested days after Thompsons killing in New York City. Those charges add yet another layer of complexity to a prosecution already spanning multiple jurisdictions and legal systems.
Thompson, a 50-year-old father of two from Minnesota, had traveled to Manhattan for a business conference with Wall Street investors when he was gunned down. Surveillance footage shows a hooded assailant approaching him from behind outside the host hotel and firing multiple shots into his back, a brazen attack that has fueled public outrage and renewed concerns about urban crime under progressive prosecutors.
On the federal docket, Mangione is charged with offenses including interstate stalking and murder through use of a firearm. He has pleaded not guilty.
Fox News' Maria Paronich contributed to this report.
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