Luigi Mangione’s attorney has criticized the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office for scheduling a trial date that she deems “unrealistic.” The defense team is simultaneously preparing for another trial in federal court, complicating their efforts.

“This is the first occasion on which the defense has been informed of such a request,” stated Karen Friedman Agnifilo on Wednesday evening. Her comments came in response to court documents indicating that Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s office proposed a trial commencement on July 1.

“The federal court has already established a firm trial date in September,” she pointed out. “Practically speaking, Mr. Mangione’s defense team will need the remaining months of the year for adequate preparation. We plan to address this impractical proposal with the court shortly.”

Luigi Mangione, accused of murdering Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, attended an evidence suppression hearing at the State Supreme Court in Manhattan on Friday, December 12, 2025.

In the federal case, U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett has provisionally scheduled jury selection for September 8. The trial is expected to begin either in the fall or winter, contingent on her decision regarding a defense motion seeking to dismiss the two most severe charges.

If the defense succeeds in dismissing the most serious charge, murder through use of a firearm, the potential death penalty would be removed, and the trial would begin earlier.

UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson pictured in an undated portrait provided by UnitedHealth. The executive was shot from behind and killed on his way to an investor conference in New York City in what prosecutors have described as a politically motivated assassination. (AP Photo/UnitedHealth Group via AP)

Assistant Manhattan District Attorney Joel Seidemann called the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson a “cold-blooded execution” in a letter to New York Judge Gregory Carro Wednesday.

Read the letter:

Seidemann wrote that it was the NYPD that led the investigation, that Mangione was first indicted by a state judge and that federal prosecutors did not become involved until after the suspect had been arrested.

He said the state has an interest in taking Mangione to trial before the feds do.

A member of the NYPD Crime Scene Unit takes a picture of a shell casing found at the scene where UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed in Manhattan, in New York City, U.S., December 4, 2024. (REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton)

“In sum, the state has an overriding interest in trying this defendant for the cold-blooded execution of Brian Thompson on December 4, 2024,” he wrote. “It resulted in the tragic death of a guest to our city on our streets. Federal law supports our request that we proceed first, and our right to a speedy resolution of this case would be severely compromised should the federal trial proceed first.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, which is handling Mangione’s federal case, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the July 1 request. 

Mangione faces a stiffer potential sentence at the federal level if convicted. In New York, Judge Carro already gave Bragg’s office a blow when he dismissed terrorism charges that would have carried a maximum sentence of life without parole.

Luigi Mangione is confronted by Altoona, Pennsylvania police in a McDonald’s shortly before his arrest for allegedly murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. (Altoona Police Department)

If Mangione were convicted of second-degree murder in New York, parole would be on the table.

He also faces lesser charges in Pennsylvania, where police arrested him days after Thompson’s murder in New York City.

Thompson, a 50-year-old father of two, lived in Minnesota and came to the Big Apple for a business conference with Wall Street investors. Surveillance video shows a hooded gunman approach him from behind outside the host hotel and shoot him multiple times in the back.

Federally, Mangione faces charges including interstate stalking and murder through use of a firearm.

He has pleaded not guilty.