Luigi Mangione returns to court less than a month before state trial

Luigi Mangione is due to appear in a New York courtroom on Tuesday for what could be the final hearing before his state murder trial begins next month.

Mangione, 28, has pleaded not guilty to several state charges in connection with the December 2024 fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside the New York Midtown Hilton.

At Tuesday’s hearing, Justice Gregory Carro is expected to determine jury-selection logistics — a task that could prove challenging given the case’s notoriety. Jury selection in his state trial is set to begin Sept. 8.

If convicted, he faces up to life in prison if convicted in the New York State Supreme Court.

Mangione’s case has garnered international headlines, with mostly female supporters who have appeared in court throughout the pre-trial hearings and argue that his actions were justified.

Prosecutors allege Mangione was motivated by an animus toward the health insurance industry, but he was never a UnitedHealthcare customer. He had no connection to Thompson, a father of two from Minnesota.

Mangione allegedly trailed Thompson and identified his movements in New York, where the prominent health care executive was attending his company’s investors conference, prosecutors say.

He then allegedly shot Thompson from behind outside the hotel, then fled the city. He was apprehended several days later in Altoona, Pa., after a McDonald’s employee called the police.

Former Manhattan prosecutor Rebecca Roiphe told NBC News that during jury selection, prosecutors will likely want to scrutinize potential jurors’ experiences in the health care system to weed out those who might sympathize with Mangione.

“I think the prosecution is clearly going to want to keep off people who have some kind of axe to grind about health care,” Roiphe said.

Roiphe, who is now a criminal law and ethics professor at New York Law School, believes the defense will seek panelists with a “healthcare for all mindset.”

Mangione separately faces federal stalking-related charges in New York and has pleaded not guilty. The Justice Department was seeking the death penalty in the federal case, but that option was taken off the table earlier this year.

U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett issued a ruling in January that effectively blocks New York federal prosecutors from pursuing a capital case.