Luigi Mangione's US murder trial to start Sept. 8, judge says

Patricia Hurtado, Mikella Schuettler and David Voreacos, Bloomberg News on Jan 23, 2026

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NEW YORK — A U.S. judge said the federal murder trial of Luigi Mangione over the killing of UnitedHealth Group Inc. executive Brian Thompson will start Sept. 8 with jury selection.

U.S. District Court Judge Margaret Garnett said the timing after jury selection will depend on whether she lets prosecutors pursue the death penalty. If she allows that option, opening statements will begin on Jan. 11, 2027, she said.

If she doesn’t allow the death penalty, the trial would begin on Oct. 13, Garnett said. The judge laid out the timetable at a hearing Friday. She had previously given a similar timetable with less precision. Mangione, 27, attended while wearing beige jail fatigues, shackles around his ankles and a new beard.

Garnett must decide whether to grant a defense motion to dismiss two charges involving allegations that Mangione stalked Thompson, which make him eligible for capital punishment. Mangione also faces a murder charge in New York state court, where the death penalty isn’t allowed, though the judge hasn’t set a trial date. He’s pleaded not guilty in both cases.

Mangione was arrested at an Altoona, Pennsylvania, McDonald’s on Dec. 9, 2024. That followed a five-day national manhunt that began with the shooting of Thompson outside a midtown Manhattan hotel where the healthcare executive was set to speak at an investors’ conference.

Garnett called the hearing to hear testimony from an Altoona Police Department officer on the policy for searching bags after an arrest.

Prosecutors called Deputy Chief Nathan Snyder, who answered questions for more than an hour about several department policies. When the judge posed a hypothetical arrest scenario, Snyder gave contradictory testimony on whether police would need a warrant to search a bag.

The judge didn’t give any indication on how she might rule on Mangione’s motion to suppress a police search of his backpack without a warrant.

Police say that they found significant evidence tying Mangione to Thompson’s murder, including a 9-millimeter handgun, a silencer, a loaded gun magazine, a diary and a passport.

Garnett will have another hearing on Jan. 30. The search of Mangione’s backpack was already the subject of several days of hearings in the state court case.