Luigi Mangione’s federal court hearing Monday was unexpectedly delayed after he became trapped in an elevator with U.S. Marshalls inside the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse in lower Manhattan, according to a court official familiar with the incident.
Mangione, who is facing two counts of stalking in the killing of UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompson, remained shackled at both his hands and feet while building engineers worked to free him from the elevator.
More than 30 minutes late to the proceeding, he entered the courtroom wearing a tan prison uniform through a door normally reserved for the judge — an unusual arrival that drew immediate attention in a packed courtroom.
At the hearing, U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett announced that jury selection for Mangione’s federal trial would begin Jan. 5, with opening statements scheduled for Jan. 25. The trial is expected to last two to three weeks, she said.
Originally, the trial was being planned for the fall, but there were scheduling conflicts with Mangione’s state murder trial, which is set to begin Sept. 8. In the state case, Mangione faces a second-degree murder charge and several counts related to criminal possession of a weapon.
“In my view, it’s simply impossible to be moving through the jury selection process in this case while the defendant and his counsel are fully occupied by conducting the state trial,” Garnett said.
Late last week, it was reported that Mangione had been in talks with federal prosecutors about a possible plea deal, but that had fallen aside, sources familiar with the matter said.
At Monday’s hearing, the judge focused on a central issue in the closely watched case: how to select an impartial jury amid extensive media coverage and public interest.
Garnett outlined an extensive jury-screening process in which written questionnaires will be distributed to hundreds of prospective jurors before in-person questioning begins.
The questionnaires will focus on potential bias, while the in-person questioning will target biographical information like age, where prospective jurors live and what they do for a living.
It is not clear exactly what questions will be included in the questionnaires, but prosecutors had objected to a number of questions proposed by the defense, arguing that inquiries into prospective jurors’ religious practices, family details and views of the health insurance industry were unnecessary or overly intrusive.
Garnett said the goal of voir dire was to identify bias, not “design a bespoke jury of your choosing,” while emphasizing the need to balance fairness with juror privacy.
The jury will consist of 12 jurors and six alternates, Garnett said.
Mangione is being represented by attorneys Karen Friedman Agnifilo; her husband, Marc; and Jacob Kaplan.
The two counts of stalking carry a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
