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Luigi Mangione murder trial to have anonymous jury
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The jury in the New York state trial of Luigi Mangione will remain anonymous, the judge overseeing the case ruled on Tuesday.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to the killing of UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel in December 2024.
The case has been at the centre of an online frenzy between Mangione's backers - many of whom see the 28-year-old as a symbol of the backlash against US healthcare costs - and his critics, who analyse his intentions and possible political views.
In Tuesday's hearing, Judge Gregory Carro decided the 12-person jury would be anonymous to the public because of the intense spotlight on the case.
Mangione attended the final pre-trial hearing dressed in a charcoal grey suit with his hair clipped short. He sat silently at the defence table while his attorneys conferred with the judge.
The trial begins next month, with jury selection scheduled to start on 8 September.
Mangione, if found guilty, could face decades behind bars. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges, including second-degree murder and weapons-related offences.
He faces a separate federal trial next year, in which he has also pleaded not guilty.
Here's what to know about the upcoming trial, and what questions remain.
Who will be able to watch?
Mangione's lawyers and prosecutors have traded terse court filings debating how much access the public will have to the trial.
The public are allowed to watch court proceedings in New York, but seating space is often limited for high-profile cases.
Mangione's trial is expected to generate significant media interest from both traditional journalists as well as streamers and social media influencers. Mangione's supporters have demanded more transparency, and frequently post and broadcast from outside court.
On Tuesday, Carro said the court would open an overflow room, which will allow more people to attend.
Caro pushed back against prosecutors for raising security concerns about an overflow room, telling them it was not the court's "first rodeo" with blockbuster cases.
The judge also rebuked Mangione's attorneys for their filings, saying any suggestion the district attorney's office was involved in the process "is simply incorrect".
What evidence will be seen by the jury?
One of the most crucial elements of the Mangione case was decided in a multi-day hearing in December, where the judge weighed which evidence prosecutors could present during trial.
Mangione's team wanted to exclude evidence recovered from his Pennsylvania arrest. It alleged that state police improperly seized and searched Mangione's possessions, and did not properly advise him of his constitutional rights before questioning him.
The defence succeeded in excluding some items, including a gun magazine, cell phone, passport, wallet and computer chip found in Mangione's backpack.
But Judge Gregory Carro allowed at trial a gun and notebook with Mangione's purported writings, viewed as vital to the prosecution.
Prosecutors have unveiled surveillance footage showing the moment Thompson was shot from behind by a hooded individual. They also used footage to piece together Mangione's alleged movements after the shooting, and ballistics and fingerprint evidence they claim bolsters their case.
What might Mangione's defence look like?
Mangione's legal team has yet to unveil its full strategy. So far, his lawyers have not offered a robust alternative theory to the one prosecutors have put forth.
"We do not have, like in 'The Fugitive,' the idea of the one-armed man who's the real killer," said former federal prosecutor Mitchell Epner, referencing the 1993 Harrison Ford thriller about a man wrongly convicted of killing his wife.
Earlier this summer, Mangione's lawyers proposed, then quickly withdrew, an "extreme emotional disturbance" argument.
In such a defence, New York law requires lawyers to show a defendant "acted under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance for which there was a reasonable explanation or excuse".
Extreme emotional disturbance would allow the jury to consider the less severe charge of manslaughter, rather than second-degree murder. But jurors would have to be convinced of the accused's state of mind at the time.
Mangione's team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
As in every US criminal trial, the burden rests on the prosecution to prove its case to the jury beyond a reasonable doubt, a high legal bar.
"The more his case is about the question of who killed the victim, the easier it is for the prosecution," said Epner.
Epner cited other themes, including healthcare in America, as potential narrative threads that could sway a jury in Mangione's favour.
"The more it's about the other peripheral issues, the harder it is for the prosecution," he said.
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Luigi Mangione appears in pre-trial hearing before September trial begins
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Luigi Mangione appeared in court for perhaps the final time before his New York State case is set to go to trial on September 8. NBC News’ Stephanie Gosk reports on how the judge outlined the media coverage and issues surrounding the questionnaire for potential jurors.Aug. 11, 2026
Open article →NBCNew York
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Luigi Mangione appeared Tuesday in a New York courtroom where plans were nearly finalized for his state murder trial, which the judge ruled will have an anonymous jury because of security concerns.
Mangione, 28, has pleaded not guilty to several state charges in the December 2024 fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside the New York Hilton Midtown. If convicted, Mangione faces up to life in prison.
On Tuesday, Justice Gregory Carro ordered the parties to team up on crafting a jury questionnaire — a task that could prove challenging given the case’s notoriety. Jury selection is set to begin Sept. 8, and the trial is expected to last about six weeks.
The parties are expected to coordinate on a survey that will address each side’s concerns and identify potential jurors who may be biased. It was unclear when the questionnaire would be finalized; Mangione’s defense team said it expects to have a proposed draft this week.
Jurors who make it past the initial screening will face additional vetting in a process known as voir dire.
Carro’s anonymity order is designed to protect jurors from possible harassment and intimidation efforts. The panelists’ names and addresses will remain sealed except to the attorneys, who have been ordered to keep that information private.
“These circumstances create a realistic and substantial risk that prospective and sworn jurors could be subject to harassment, intimidation, or improper outside influence, and that disclosure of their identifying information would meaningfully increase that risk,” Carro noted in a written order released Tuesday.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office argued in a July 22 court filing that the activities of Mangione admirers, or self-described “Mangionistas,” are attempts to influence the outcome of the case.
Some have been recorded making cruel statements outside the courthouse about Thompson and his family, calling the victim “a terrorist” among other insensitive remarks, the filing said.
Supporters have also commissioned mobile billboards to circle the courthouse in a jury nullification awareness campaign. Nullification is an extremely rare outcome in criminal cases because jurors are not told to consider it during deliberations.
A jury can decide on its own to adopt a nullification finding based on fairness conclusions about a case or other factors, even if the panel believes the defendant committed a crime.
Mangione’s notoriety “has led to threats against some of the people involved in the case,” the DA’s filing said, adding that there have been “threats, harassment, and exposure of personal information of individuals, businesses, and organizations perceived as assisting in the investigation into and apprehension of the defendant.”
The courtroom was filled Tuesday with journalists and some Mangione proponents, who were wearing green, an apparent reference to the Luigi character from the iconic Nintendo Super Mario games and subsequent movies.
Mangione entered the room from a holding area wearing a gray suit and glanced around before taking his seat next to his attorneys, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, Marc Agnifilo and Jacob Kaplan.
The judge said there would be expanded media and public access to the trial. After fielding complaints from Mangione’s defense team about potential space limitations, court administrators arranged for an overflow room.
“It has always been under consideration. They had to find the physical place, and it had to be staffed,” Carro said.
The defense had accused the Manhattan district attorney’s office of unfairly trying to limit the number of attendees, which it argued would shape the type of coverage the trial receives.
Prosecutors objected to those characterizations but also raised concerns about witness exposure.
“We are particularly concerned about the possibility that a spectator in an overflow room will clandestinely record the proceedings and share any such recordings with others,” prosecutor Joel Seidemann wrote in an Aug. 10 letter.
Seidemann also argued that Mangione supporters have tried to intimidate witnesses and interrupt the jury process, elevating the prosecution’s fears about the “extraordinary pressure on witnesses and potential jurors alike.”
The judge said the DA had no role in courtroom access planning and called the defense’s claims of meddling “a reckless mischaracterization.”
Defense attorney Marc Agnifilo said outside the courthouse that he was glad the court arranged for extra space.
“I think it actually changed the complexion of the coverage of the trial. ... I think there should be two overflow rooms, but I’ll take one,” Agnifilo said.
Mangione’s case has garnered international headlines, with mostly female supporters who have appeared in court throughout the pretrial hearings and argue that the CEO’s killing was justified.
Prosecutors allege Mangione was motivated by an animus toward the health insurance industry, but he was never a UnitedHealthcare customer. He had no connection to Thompson, a father of two from Minnesota.
Prosecutors say Mangione trailed Thompson and identified his movements in New York, where the CEO was attending his company’s investors conference.
Prosecutors allege that Mangione shot Thompson from behind outside the hotel, then fled the city. He was apprehended days later in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after a McDonald’s employee called the police.
Former Manhattan prosecutor Rebecca Roiphe told NBC News that during jury selection, prosecutors will likely want to scrutinize potential jurors’ experiences in the healthcare system to weed out those who might sympathize with Mangione.
“I think the prosecution is clearly going to want to keep off people who have some kind of ax to grind about healthcare,” Roiphe said.
Roiphe, who is a criminal law and ethics professor at New York Law School, believes the defense will seek panelists with a “healthcare-for-all mindset.”
Mangione separately faces federal stalking-related charges in New York and has pleaded not guilty. The Justice Department was seeking the death penalty in the federal case, but that option was taken off the table earlier this year.
U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett issued a ruling in January that effectively blocks New York federal prosecutors from pursuing a capital case. Mangione has an appearance scheduled Friday in federal court in Manhattan; it is unclear what will be discussed.
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