Luigi Mangione set to return to court for alleged murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO with defense strategy a mystery
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Luigi Mangione is due back in court Monday in the federal case over his alleged execution of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson — with his defense strategy still up in the air.
The 28-year-old accused assassin will appear in Manhattan federal court to hash out the schedule of his federal trial, which is currently set for October but may be moved to early 2027.
Monday’s hearing comes two weeks after it was revealed that Mangione would mount a psychiatric defense in his separate state case — before his lawyers bizarrely backtracked just a day later.
The state murder case, prosecuted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, is set to start with jury selection on Sept. 8.
That schedule would collide with the current schedule in the federal case, which calls for prospective jurors to start filling out questionnaires on Sept. 11. US District Judge Margaret Garnett has expressed openness, however, to postponing the federal trial until winter.
Mangione faces life in prison at both the federal and state trials, stemming from his alleged cold-blooded killing of Thompson, 50, in a targeted December 2024 hit on a Midtown sidewalk outside UnitedHealth’s annual investor conference.
But the Ivy League alumnus is no longer charged with murder in the federal case — after the judge tossed his death penalty eligible charges — but rather with “stalking” the powerful executive.
The vast majority of alleged killers in Manhattan do not face federal charges but President Trump’s Justice Department swooped in with a then death-penalty eligible case after Mangione’s arrest at the behest of outraged health industry leaders, The Post exclusively reported at the time.
Mangione, the scion of a wealthy Maryland family, led police on a dramatic five-day manhunt before finally being nabbed by local cops in Altoona, Pennsylvania, while munching on breakfast at a local McDonald’s.
He allegedly plotted the shocking killing to make a twisted political statement, leaving behind bullet casings bearing the words “delay” and “deny” etched into them, echoing a phrase insurers allegedly use to describe dodging paying out claims.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty in both the state and federal cases and is being held without bail at the Metropolitan Detention Center jail in Brooklyn.