Luigi Mangione will not face a federal trial over the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson until January 2027, after a federal judge concluded that the defendant’s state murder trial makes it difficult to proceed on the original timetable.U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett announced Monday that jury selection in the federal case will begin Jan. 5, 2027, with opening statements scheduled for Jan. 25. She estimated the trial, which was originally slated for October, would last two to three weeks.“As you know, I had hoped with perhaps undue optimism to preserve a possibility of a fall trial in this case,” Garnett said during a brief hearing in Manhattan federal court. But with Mangione and his attorneys preparing for his Sept. 8 state trial, she said they would be unable to meaningfully participate in federal jury selection.
“In my view, it’s simply impossible for us to be moving through the jury selection process in this case while the defendant and his counsel are fully engaged in the state trial,” Garnett said.Mangione, 28, has pleaded not guilty in both his federal and state cases stemming from the Dec. 4, 2024, fatal shooting of Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel. State prosecutors have charged him with murder and weapons offenses, while federal prosecutors allege he stalked Thompson before carrying out the killing.Mangione, wearing beige jail clothing, did not speak during Monday’s roughly 20-minute hearing. His appearance was delayed after he became stuck in an elevator with U.S. marshals at the courthouse, according to multiple reports.Defense attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo declined to comment on the case afterward, joking only that she was eager to hear what reporters discovered about the elevator malfunction.Karen Friedman Agnifilo, center, and Jacob Kaplan, left, lawyers for Luigi Mangione, are surrounded by media as they leave a federal courthouse in New York, Monday, June 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
