'Same trial twice': Luigi Mangione leaves court protesting after New York trial date is set

A judge has set a New York state trial date of 8 June for Luigi Mangione, the suspect accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a busy Manhattan street in 2024.

After New York Judge Gregory Carro announced the date in court on Friday, Mangione's defence team objected passionately, arguing Mangione's federal trial - set for September - should go before the state case because of double jeopardy issues.

Mangione himself weighed in on the matter, too.

As he was being taken away from the courtroom by police officers in his tan jumpsuit and handcuffs, he yelled to the court: "It's the same trial twice. One plus one equals two. Double jeopardy by any common sense judgment."

Mangione was arrested following a days-long manhunt, after allegedly shooting Thompson as the health insurance firm CEO walked into a New York City hotel in midtown Manhattan on 4 December 2024. Mangione has pleaded not guilty to all federal and state charges.

The hearing came a week after a federal judge set the September date for Mangione's trial and dropped firearms charges against him that carried a death penalty punishment.

The brief state hearing on Friday was tense as Mangione's lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, attempted to plead her case for the judge to postpone the trial date.

Judge Carro said the federal government had "reneged" on an agreement for the state trial to go first, but he argued that should still be the case, and that it shouldn't take long because some of the state charges - terrorism counts - against Mangione had been dropped earlier.

"This case got simpler," he said.

But Agnifilo was not convinced.

"The defence will absolutely not be ready on June 8, and it is absolutely unfair," she said, arguing Mangione had been put in an "untenable" situation with two trials so close together.

Judge Carro frequently interrupted Agnifilo as she spoke, emphasising the date he had just set: "June 8."

"That's enough. I don't need to hear any more about it," he told Agnifilo.

Mangione's attorneys frequently argued that the double jeopardy law protects him from being prosecuted twice - by the state and the federal government - for the same crime.

In the past, they've asked Judge Carro to pause the proceedings while the federal case takes place, a request he has denied.

Leaving court on Friday, Agnifilo claimed double jeopardy was meant to "protect" people but prosecutors were using it as a "weapon".

At Mangione's state hearing, members of the public filled several rows of the courtroom, including some wearing "Free Luigi" shirts and pins of Mangione appearing as a saint-like figure.

Mangione's lawyers had been fighting to get rid of federal death penalty charges against Mangione. US District Judge Margaret Garnett ruled last week that the charges did not meet "the federal statutory definition of a 'crime of violence' as matter of law".

But Friday marked a win for state prosecutors, who had pushed to hold the New York trial against Mangione before his federal proceedings begin in September.

The scion of a prominent Maryland family who graduated from an Ivy League university, Mangione is alleged to have shot Thompson, as the 50-year-old father of two attended an annual investor conference.

Investigators say the words "deny", "defend" and "depose" were written on shell casings found at the scene of Thompson's murder.

The words are thought to reference the "three Ds of insurance" - tactics used by companies to reject payment claims from customers.