By Jack Queen
NEW YORK, June 16 (Reuters) - Luigi Mangione, the man accused of gunning down a health insurance executive on a Manhattan sidewalk, is due for a state court hearing on Tuesday ahead of his highly anticipated murder trial.
Mangione, 28, is accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a hotel in Midtown in December 2024, a brazen killing that was widely condemned by public officials but became emblematic of Americans’ frustration with rising healthcare costs and
health insurance industry practices.
Mangione pleaded not guilty in December 2024 to state murder, weapons and forgery charges brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
His trial is set for September before Justice Gregory Carro in Manhattan.
The agenda for Tuesday's hearing is not clear and comes two weeks after Carro held a sealed, virtual proceeding with prosecutors and defense lawyers.
Thompson led UnitedHealth Group's insurance unit before he was shot dead in the early morning outside a hotel where he was staying for an investor conference.
Graphic footage of the killing and a five-day manhunt for a suspect made the case a media fixture and social media sensation. Mangione was arrested in Pennsylvania.
Mangione separately pleaded not guilty in April 2025 to murder, weapons and stalking charges brought by Manhattan federal prosecutors.
U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett, who is overseeing the case, threw out the murder and weapons charges over legal technicalities in a surprise ruling in January. That decision eliminated the possibility that Mangione would face the death penalty, though he still faces a possible sentence of life without parole if convicted of stalking.
Jury selection in that case is set to begin in September, and opening statements in the trial are scheduled for November.
(Reporting by Jack Queen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Christian Schmollinger)
