Judge Rules Jury Will Be Anonymous in Luigi Mangione’s State Murder Trial
The jury that will decide Luigi Mangione’s state murder case will remain anonymous, a New York judge ruled Tuesday as attorneys moved closer to finalizing preparations for the closely watched trial.
Justice Gregory Carro announced the decision at the start of a Manhattan court hearing, saying jurors’ identities would be protected. While the public will not know the jurors’ identities, the lawyers on both sides are still expected to have access to their names. New York courts generally reserve that level of secrecy for unusually prominent cases or proceedings where juror safety and outside influence are concerns.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin Sept. 8, with the trial expected to run for approximately six weeks. Mangione, 28, has pleaded not guilty to multiple state charges stemming from the December 2024 fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside the New York Hilton Midtown.
Mangione’s state case includes a second-degree murder charge, which could carry a sentence of 25 years to life if he is convicted.
One of the next major steps will be determining how prospective jurors are questioned about a case that has already attracted international attention. Carro instructed prosecutors and defense attorneys Tuesday to work together on a jury questionnaire designed to identify possible bias and address concerns from both sides.
It remained unclear when the questionnaire would be completed, though Mangione’s defense told NBC News it expects to have a proposed version this week.
Prospective jurors who clear that initial screening will undergo further questioning through voir dire. Jury questionnaires generally allow attorneys and the judge to learn about candidates’ backgrounds, beliefs and experiences before questioning them more extensively in court.
Former Manhattan prosecutor Rebecca Roiphe told NBC News that prosecutors are likely to pay particular attention to prospective jurors’ experiences with the healthcare system because of the alleged motive in Thompson’s killing.
“I think the prosecution is clearly going to want to keep off people who have some kind of ax to grind about healthcare.”
Roiphe, a criminal law and ethics professor at New York Law School, said Mangione’s attorneys, meanwhile, could seek jurors with a “healthcare-for-all mindset.”
Attorneys are also likely to scrutinize potential jurors’ attitudes toward law enforcement and politics, Roiphe said, even though the issues surrounding Mangione’s case do not necessarily fall neatly along partisan lines.
Prosecutors have alleged that Mangione was driven by hostility toward the health insurance industry. However, he had never been a UnitedHealthcare customer and had no known connection to Thompson.
Authorities say Mangione followed Thompson and tracked his movements while the healthcare executive was in New York for his company’s investors conference.
Prosecutors allege Mangione approached Thompson outside the Midtown hotel and shot him from behind before leaving New York. He was arrested several days later in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after an employee at a McDonald’s contacted police.
The case drew widespread attention almost immediately, beginning with the dayslong search for Thompson’s killer and continuing as the shooting became a flashpoint in broader arguments over the cost and accessibility of health care in the United States.
The intense attention surrounding the case was apparent again Tuesday, when the courtroom filled with journalists and some Mangione supporters. Several supporters wore green, apparently in reference to Luigi, the Nintendo character from the Super Mario franchise and its film adaptations.
Mangione entered from a holding area dressed in a gray suit. He looked around the courtroom before sitting beside his attorneys, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, Marc Agnifilo and Jacob Kaplan.
The hearing is also expected to be Mangione’s last court appearance before jury selection begins in September. One woman in the gallery wore a shirt that read, “Open the courtroom what are you hiding.”
Supporters, many of them women, have repeatedly appeared at Mangione’s pretrial proceedings, and some have publicly argued that Thompson’s killing was justified.
The level of public interest has also prompted a dispute over how much access journalists and spectators will have once the trial begins.
Before Tuesday’s conference, Mangione’s attorneys and the Manhattan district attorney’s office exchanged arguments over the amount of courtroom space that would be available to the press and members of the public.
The defense accused prosecutors of improperly attempting to restrict attendance, arguing that limiting access could also influence how the proceedings are covered.
In one of the letters preceding the hearing, Agnifilo accused prosecutors and court officials of exerting improper influence over which reporters would be allowed inside, arguing that the process failed to meet constitutional standards for public access. Prosecutor Joel Seidemann pushed back, calling the accusation “baseless” and asking Carro to reprimand the defense.
Prosecutors disputed that characterization and said their objections were instead tied in part to concerns about protecting witnesses and maintaining the integrity of the proceedings.
“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.”
Seidemann also alleged that some Mangione supporters have attempted to intimidate witnesses and interfere with the jury process, adding to prosecutors’ concerns about the “extraordinary pressure on witnesses and potential jurors alike.”
Carro rejected the defense’s assertion that prosecutors were responsible for restricting courtroom access, saying the district attorney’s office does not control those arrangements. He described the allegation of prosecutorial meddling as “a reckless mischaracterization.”
The back-and-forth adds to a series of increasingly sharp exchanges between the two sides as the September trial approaches.
The judge nevertheless announced expanded public and media accommodations for the trial. Following complaints from the defense about possible space constraints, court administrators secured an additional overflow room.
“It has always been under consideration. They had to find the physical place, and it had to be staffed,” Carro said.
Outside the courthouse, Marc Agnifilo said he welcomed the additional space, though he would prefer even more.
“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 also faces a separate federal prosecution in New York involving stalking-related charges, to which he has pleaded not guilty. The Justice Department had previously sought the death penalty in the federal case, but capital punishment was removed as a possibility earlier this year.
Moumita Basuroychowdhury is a Contributing Reporter at The National Digest. After earning an economics degree at Cornell University, she moved to NYC to pursue her MFA in creative writing. She enjoys reporting on science, business and culture news. You can reach her at moumita.b@thenationaldigest.com.