NEW YORK — Marathon pretrial proceedings came to a close Thursday that will determine whether jurors see the weapon Luigi Mangione is accused of using to murder UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a Midtown sidewalk and other pivotal evidence, with both sides resting after nine days of hearings.

Manhattan State Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro indicated he would rule by May 18, setting up a monthslong wait for both sides to get a grasp on what shape the trial will take. Prosecutors urged Carro to get the case before a jury sooner rather than later.

“I just hope that the parties understand that it is very important to the family of the victim, the mother, who is 77 years old, to be able to know whether or not this is the person who shot their son and to then get to a decision point where there is further litigation,” Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann said of Thompson’s mother in court, continuing to speak with the judge in a sealed exchange.

The hearings included 17 witnesses and centered on evidence recovered and statements Mangione made to Pennsylvania law enforcement surrounding his arrest five days after Thompson’s killing. Mangione was nabbed at a McDonald’s in the city of Altoona, more than 200 miles from the Hilton hotel in Midtown, outside which the CEO was shot dead Dec. 4, 2024.

The Maryland man’s lawyers have argued that Altoona cops, excited by the high-profile bust amid a nationwide manhunt, rashly conducted warrantless searches of his belongings, and that a .9mm pistol, silencer, notebook entries allegedly laying out plans to kill the exec, among other items, were unlawfully recovered and should thus be barred. It was also revealed at the proceedings that Altoona cops found a “to-do” list — including a note to “pluck eyebrows” — and writings laying out possible “escape routes.”

The Manhattan DA’s position is that the searches were lawful as Mangione was being arrested and cops needed to ensure he wasn’t carrying any dangerous items. Several officers who testified maintained that they were authorized to conduct warrantless searches during an arrest.

Cops came upon Mangione eating a hash brown after responding to a 911 call by a McDonald’s manager who reported customers had recognized “the CEO shooter from New York,” according to audio played at the proceedings. Officers testified they had no doubt he was the suspect wanted for the shooting and tried to stall him while they strategized.

The 27-year-old handed over a New Jersey state driver’s license under the name Mark Rosario, which officers quickly determined was bogus, footage showed. After warning him he could face arrest for handing over a fake ID, Mangione confessed his real name and was placed in handcuffs under suspicion of carrying a forged document. In addition to the evidence recovered, the defense has argued to bar statements Mangione made before he was informed of his Miranda right to stay silent during the 19 minutes that lapsed between cops first approaching him and taking him into custody.

Mangione is expected to answer to the forgery charges when DA Alvin Bragg’s case and a parallel prosecution being handled by the Trump Justice Department conclude.

Outside the courthouse Friday, Mangione’s lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo called the hearings “a three-week mini-trial that should have been half a day.” She complained that Carro didn’t hear from the NYPD about statements former Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny made to reporters after the arrest a year ago, when he claimed Mangione’s mother had told a San Francisco cop during the manhunt that she could see her son “doing something like this.”

Friedman Agnifilo said the comment had been included as part of the prosecution’s probable cause to charge Mangione.

“What Mrs. Mangione said was that she could never see her son being a risk to himself or others,” the attorney said. “That still has not been corrected.”

Earlier Thursday, when the matter arose in court, ADA Seidemann contended it was a non-issue and sarcastically criticized Mangione’s lawyers for repeating the year-old statement if the defense team believes it is prejudicial.

The Penn University grad has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and related offenses. In September, Carro knocked off top terrorism counts after finding prosecutors had misapplied a statute enacted after 9/11.

The DA’s office alleges that Mangione checked into an Upper West Side hostel 10 days before Thompson’s killing with the Rosario ID, ready to execute plans he’d laid out in a notebook about wanting to “whack” a CEO at the “annual parasitic bean-counter convention”

Mangione, who had no prior criminal record, was in the exec’s presence near the crime scene in the 24 hours preceding the shooting, prosecutors have alleged. Surveillance footage taken by the Hilton captured them walking past one another the night of Dec. 3, 2024.

Early the next morning, a masked figure shot Thompson in the back as the CEO arrived to set up for an investor conference then calmly walked away, footage played in court showed. The 50-year-old father of two teen boys, who was based in Minnesota, was named as CEO of the U.S.’s largest health insurer in 2021 after almost two decades at the company.

Prosecutors say Mangione fled the scene on a bike through Central Park and then cabbed it to a bus station further uptown. Carro heard that Altoona cops found a bus ticket to Pittsburgh on Mangione’s person — with the name “Sam Dawson” and an ETA the night after Thompson’s killing.

The marathon proceedings kicked off what’s set to be a long and winding road to legal closure on the circumstances of Thompson’s killing.

In his federal case, Mangione faces accusations that he stalked the healthcare exec before fatally shooting him. He has pleaded not guilty and is fighting the feds’ ability to seek the death penalty. No trial date has been set.

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