Written by Luke Cohen and Alexandra Michalska
NEW YORK — A New York state judge on Wednesday postponed the trial of Luigi Mangione for the murder of a health insurance executive until Sept. 8, raising questions about the timing of a parallel federal trial.
In a brief written order, Judge Gregory Caro in Manhattan postponed the start date of Mangione’s trial to June 8. Caro did not specify a reason, but the judge expressed frustration during the February 6 hearing that federal prosecutors “broke” their promise to allow state prosecutors to stand trial first.
Hours earlier, U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett, who is overseeing Mangione’s federal trial on stalking charges stemming from the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, postponed the start of that trial by a few weeks to October 13.
Mangione’s trial in state court is expected to last six weeks, defense attorney Karen Friedman-Agnifilo said at Garnett’s hearing on Wednesday.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to all charges. At the February hearing, as he was escorted from the courtroom in a prison uniform and shackles, Mangione said it was unfair that he should be tried twice for the same alleged crime.
A spokesman for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which brought the state charges, declined to comment. A spokesman for the US Attorney’s Office in Manhattan, which brought the federal charges, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mangione has been jailed since his arrest in Pennsylvania five days after Thompson, who led UnitedHealth Group’s health insurance business, was shot to death outside a midtown Manhattan hotel.
Mangione’s supporters were cited by the prosecutor
Mangione’s lawyers had asked Garnett to postpone the federal trial until next year instead of its previously scheduled start in September to give them more time to prepare, and said Caro would postpone the state trial from June to September if she did so. Garnett’s delay did not live up to that demand.
At Wednesday’s hearing, federal prosecutor Dominic Gentile cited Mangione’s public support as a reason to begin the trial as soon as possible.
While Thompson’s killing was widely condemned by government officials, Mangione has become a folk hero of sorts to some Americans who decry the high costs of medical care and health insurance practices in the United States.
Prosecutor Dominic Gentile said: “Your Honor only needs to look out the window to see the people who follow this defendant and believe what he did was right.”
Nearly a dozen supporters gathered Wednesday outside the courthouse in lower Manhattan, including a woman wearing a pink T-shirt depicting Mangione’s face inside a heart shape.
Mangione could face life in prison if convicted on the federal stalking charges and 25 years to life in prison if found guilty at a state trial.
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