Prosecutors in Manhattan want their turn with accused killer Luigi Mangione sooner rather than later. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office has asked a state judge to set a July 1 trial date in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, arguing the New York case should go first despite a separate federal prosecution already on the calendar, NBC New York reports. In a letter to Judge Gregory Carro, Assistant DA Joel Seidemann said his team is ready for trial and warned that delaying the state case until after the federal one would undercut New York's interest in prosecuting a high-profile killing on its own streets. "Almost all murders are prosecuted in this state by local prosecutors," he wrote.
"It is entirely natural that the state case would proceed to trial before the federal case," Seidemann wrote, per Bloomberg. He argued that "protracted litigation" could "unduly delay" the state case if the federal trial happens first. Jury selection in Mangione's federal case is scheduled to start Sept. 8. A hearing in that matter is set for Friday, and US District Judge Margaret Garnett is expected to decide whether prosecutors can seek the death penalty.
The state case moved quickly after Thompson was shot dead outside the New York Hilton in the early hours of Dec. 4, 2024. A New York County grand jury indicted Mangione 13 days later, after hearing from 25 witnesses, including six from Altoona, Pennsylvania, where Mangione was arrested at a McDonald's. A day after the indictment, federal authorities took custody of Mangione. He is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
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