NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) -- At a secret court hearing days before Luigi Mangione admitted killing UnitedHealth Group Inc. executive Brian Thompson, the federal judge overseeing the case expressed concern that a guilty plea might affect jury selection in the separate murder case he faces in New York state court.
Mangione, 28, pleaded guilty in federal court on Aug. 14, admitting he stalked Thompson before fatally shooting him outside an investor conference at a midtown Manhattan hotel in December 2024. Before that, US District Judge Margaret Garnett held closed-door conferences on June 12 and Aug. 6 with lawyers where they discussed plea talks and leaks to the media.
At both hearings, lawyers for Mangione said he was weighing a guilty plea, according to transcripts released Wednesday. The judge voiced concern about whether he had fully considered a plea and how it might impact jury selection in state court, which was then scheduled for Sept. 8.
“Given the imminence of the defendant’s state trial, I just am very concerned,” Garnett said at the Aug. 6 hearing. “I’m just very concerned about preserving the prospect of selecting a fair jury in the state case.”
The transcripts show the difficult behind-the-scenes negotiations that took place as Mangione defended himself simultaneously against state and federal charges in a case where authorities say the evidence against him is overwhelming. Despite the execution-style slaying, Mangione has become a folk hero for many in a case that symbolizes rage at the US healthcare system.
After Mangione pleaded guilty, the judge in the state case indefinitely postponed jury selection while he weighs Mangione’s arguments that the murder case should now be dismissed because the US Constitution and state law prohibit prosecuting people twice for the same crime. State Judge Gregory Carro set the next hearing date for Dec. 10.
Mangione didn’t attend either of the two closed-door hearings in the federal case, which weren’t posted on the court docket. A spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Mangione’s lawyers didn’t immediately return voicemails and emails seeking comment. Nick Biase, a spokesman for Manhattan US Attorney Jamie McDonald, declined to comment.
At the “emergency” hearing on June 12, Mangione attorney Karen Agnifilo Friedman disclosed that she was in talks with federal prosecutors, and that she was “fully anticipating” that Mangione would change his plea to guilty.
“We need a little more time to get our client ready, to talk to the family, and we realize we have a court appearance next week also in the state court case,” she told the judge. “We also were hoping to not signal publicly that there’s going to be a change in plea to the docket too soon.”
She also said that prosecutors wanted to talk to Thompson’s family, and defense lawyers “just wanted an opportunity to kind of get our affairs in order.”
Garnett described the difficult path to a guilty plea, saying that the Thompson and Mangione families hadn’t yet weighed “the full consideration and discussion that they’re entitled to from” lawyers in the case. She also Mangione had to fully understand the impact of a plea.
“I want to make sure that nothing happens that affects that process; and the victim’s family, as well as Mr. Mangione’s family, and Mr. Mangione himself having appropriate time to privately and fully consider the circumstances of a possible change in plea,” Garnett said.
The judge set a possible date for a guilty plea on June 29, but it didn’t happen then.
At the Aug. 6 hearing, Garnett lamented leaks to the media about the plea talks, saying: “I just want to make sure that we are doing everything we can to prevent public reporting on that, again, in light of the imminent jury selection for the defendant’s state case.”
‘Better Sense’
Agnifilo Friedman expressed the tenuous nature of a plea deal.
“We think we will have a better sense of whether or not this is actually happening in the coming days, but most likely next week,” she told Garnett at the Aug. 6 hearing. The judge set an Aug. 14 hearing date for the plea without describing its purpose publicly.
Garnett said she wanted to have suitable courtroom security in place given the large crowds and extensive publicity. Such arrangements were necessary, she said, so that “neither Mr. Thompson’s family or Mr. Mangione’s family are harassed or have to sit with people that they shouldn’t have to sit with on a solemn occasion like a guilty plea.”
The secret talks weren’t discussed publicly at a state court hearing on Aug. 11, three days before Mangione’s guilty plea. The state court hearing was supposed to be the last proceeding before the trial.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com.
