(NEW YORK) — Accused CEO killer Luigi Mangione is in a packed Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday for the last scheduled pre-trial conference before jury selection begins next month in his state murder case.
The last two rows of the courtroom were filled with about 20 Mangione supporters, some wearing shirts declaring his innocence or calling for expanded courtroom access.
Tuesday’s appearance could be the last time Mangione is seen in public before jury selection starts on Sept. 8, and the conference is one of the final opportunities for prosecutors and defense attorneys to finalize details of the high-profile trial.
Judge Gregory Carro began the hearing by shooting down the defense’s claims that access to the trial was limited or that prosecutors were involved in dictating the coverage plans. He told prosecutors that this was not the court’s “first rodeo” when it comes to high-profile cases.
“There has never been a discussion or decision by this court to exclude the public for these proceedings, and quite the opposite is true,” the judge said, adding that there will be an overflow room for the trial.
Prosecutors allege Mangione gunned down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in an assassination-style killing on a Midtown Manhattan street in December 2024. He has pleaded not guilty in separate state and federal cases, and faces the possibility of life in prison if he’s convicted in his state murder case.
In the two months since Mangione last appeared in state court, his defense lawyers abruptly withdrew plans to argue he was experiencing an “extreme emotional disturbance” as he allegedly killed Thompson. The rare psychiatric defense would have involved Mangione’s lawyers arguing he experienced a “profound loss of self-control” at the time of the alleged murder and that he should be convicted of the lesser crime of manslaughter, which carries a 25-year maximum sentence.
Mangione’s lawyers withdrew their notice about the planned defense after the judge said his lawyers would have to turn over Mangione’s psychiatric records if they chose that route.
Mangione’s lawyers and federal prosecutors in Manhattan also discussed a possible guilty plea in his federal case in June, sources previously told ABC News. The sources said it was not clear how close the two sides came to an agreement before the negotiations stopped, and Mangione’s federal trial is scheduled to begin on Jan. 5.
Prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office have said they would push for a stiffer sentence in his state murder case if Mangione were to plead out of the federal case.
“Any guilty pleas in these matters must account for the seriousness of defendant’s offenses, the loss of an innocent life, the impact of those crimes on the victim’s family, and the other state interests that are implicated, including the sanctity of life principle that underpins the state homicide charges,” prosecutor Joel Seidermann wrote in July.
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