The accused CEO assassin, Luigi Mangione, is set to return to court for a hearing on jury selection in his upcoming federal trial. The 28-year-old former Ivy Leaguer is facing a federal trial for allegedly plotting a murder, as well as a separate state-level murder case in connection with the December 2024 shooting of Brian Thompson, 50.
Mangione's federal trial is scheduled to begin early next year, and prosecutors and defense teams have been working on a jury questionnaire since April. The proposed questionnaire has been a point of contention, with prosecutors objecting to some of the defense's proposed questions as overly intrusive or duplicative.
The defense team wants to ask potential jurors about their living situations, employment status, and background information on their children, as well as details about their faith. They also seek to inquire about jurors' experiences with jails, firearms, and law enforcement, as well as their viewing habits and potential prejudices against the criminal justice system.
In a notable request, the defense wants to know if any potential jurors regularly stay at the Hilton on 6th Avenue, the scene of the crime, or work for or hold stock in UnitedHealthcare. This comes as Mangione is accused of plotting the murder, traveling across state lines to New York City ahead of a UnitedHealthcare business conference, and shooting Thompson in the back outside the venue.
Recently, reports emerged that Mangione's attorneys and federal prosecutors were in discussions about a potential plea deal, but were unable to reach an agreement. Mangione's lawyer has called the information attributed to anonymous sources a "troubling, deliberate pattern" by prosecutors and law enforcement to prejudice Mangione.
In a separate development, Mangione's lawyers had considered a psychiatric defense in the state case, but ultimately withdrew it. The defense would have required Mangione to concede that he shot Thompson, potentially reducing the murder charge to manslaughter and the sentence from 25 years to life in prison to five to 25 years.
The federal case carries stiffer potential sentences, and there is no federal equivalent to New York's emotional disturbance law. Mangione was arrested at a McDonald's restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after fleeing the scene of the crime in Manhattan, where he had used a fake name to check into a hostel.
