By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK, April 1 (Reuters) - Luigi Mangione, the man accused of gunning down a health insurance executive in Manhattan, is due in federal court on Wednesday for a hearing on his bid to delay a trial on charges that could land him in prison for the rest of his life.
In-person jury selection is currently scheduled to begin on September 8 for Mangione's federal trial on stalking charges stemming from the December 4, 2024 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Opening statements
are scheduled for October 13.
Lawyers for Mangione, 27, are seeking to delay the federal trial until January because he also faces a separate trial on New York state murder charges starting on June 8. They argue that the overlapping schedules would inhibit Mangione's ability to prepare for the federal trial.
"Mr. Mangione is now in the position of needing to prepare for two complicated and serious trials at the same time," his lawyers wrote in a March 18 letter to Manhattan-based U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
PROSECUTORS OPPOSE DELAY
Prosecutors with the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office have said they oppose delaying in-person jury selection and opening statements in the federal case.
But they said in a March 21 court filing that they were open to modifying the timeline for distributing and reviewing screening questionnaires to roughly 800 prospective jurors to make sure Mangione has the chance to evaluate them. The questionnaires are currently scheduled to be distributed on June 29.
Mangione has been jailed since his arrest in Pennsylvania five days after the shooting death of Thompson, who led UnitedHealth Group's health insurance business, outside a Hilton hotel in midtown Manhattan.
DEATH PENALTY OFF THE TABLE
Mangione initially faced a possible death sentence in the federal case. That was taken off the table in January, when Garnett dismissed the federal murder charge he faced. Garnett called that charge legally incompatible with the two stalking charges he still faces. Federal murder statutes carry different legal requirements than comparable state laws.
Mangione could still face a life sentence if convicted of the federal stalking charges and 25 years to life in prison if found guilty at the state trial.
While public officials widely condemned Thompson's killing, Mangione became a folk hero of sorts to some Americans who decry high costs for U.S. medical care and health insurer practices.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New YorkEditing by Bill Berkrot)
