Luigi Mangione, the man accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and sparking a nationwide manhunt, is scheduled to appear in a Manhattan courtroom Friday for a pretrial hearing—his first since being arraigned in December on murder and terrorism charges.
The 26-year-old defendant faces multiple state charges, including murder as an act of terrorism, in connection with Thompson’s killing on Dec. 4. Authorities say the executive was ambushed and shot outside a midtown Manhattan hotel as he walked to an investor conference.
During Friday’s hearing, prosecutors and defense attorneys are expected to provide case updates, and Judge Gregory Carro may set deadlines for pretrial motions and discuss a potential trial date.
Mangione is also facing federal charges, which could carry the possibility of the death penalty. He is currently being held at a federal detention center in Brooklyn, where other high-profile defendants, including Sean “Diddy” Combs and Sam Bankman-Fried, are also in custody.
Prosecutors have indicated that the state charges will proceed first, with a maximum penalty of life in prison without parole. A separate Feb. 24 hearing in Pennsylvania on charges related to possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery, and false identification was canceled.
In a statement posted on a website for his legal defense, Mangione expressed gratitude for those who have reached out to him, saying he was “overwhelmed” by the support and emphasizing that it “transcended political, racial, and even class divisions.”
Mangione was arrested on Dec. 9 at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania, where police found him in possession of a firearm that matched the weapon used in Thompson’s murder, along with a fake ID. Authorities also discovered a notebook containing writings critical of the health insurance industry and corporate executives.
During his Dec. 23 arraignment, Mangione’s attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, accused officials of mishandling the case, calling the jurisdictional disputes “warring” and likening her client to a “human ping-pong ball.”
She also criticized New York City Mayor Eric Adams and other officials for staging what she described as a choreographed public display when Mangione was brought back to Manhattan under heavy security. The suspect was escorted by armed officers up a pier from a heliport in what Agnifilo called a spectacle meant to prejudice potential jurors.
Agnifilo further condemned Adams for his televised remarks, where the mayor said he wanted to confront Mangione and tell him, “you carried out this terroristic act in my city.”
The legal proceedings continue as Mangione faces charges that could result in either life imprisonment or the death penalty, with both state and federal cases advancing in parallel.
