Luigi Mangione dons new look as judge sets date for federal murder trial

Luigi Mangione sported a new chinstrap beard in Manhattan court Friday — as a federal judge set a September date to start picking jurors in his headline-grabbing murder case. 

Twelve New Yorkers tasked with deciding whether to convict the 27-year-old alleged assassin of executing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson will be chosen after a screening process starting Sept. 8, said Manhattan federal court Judge Margaret Garnett.

Garnett will decide before then whether to bar prosecutors from seeking the death penalty.

Mangione, who has been held at a Brooklyn jail since his arrest, sported a thin chinstrap beard in court Friday. REUTERS

If the capital punishment raps are tossed, opening statements in the case will be Oct. 13, according to the schedule finalized during a hearing in Manhattan federal court.

If the death penalty is still on the table, the jury will hear opening statements on Jan. 11, 2027 — an extended timeline that accounts for the added complexity of death penalty trials.

The newly bearded Mangione, shackled at the feet and wearing a tan prison jumpsuit over a white long-sleeved T-shirt, sat calmly at the defense table as his trial date was set.

The University of Pennsylvania graduate has pleaded not guilty to both federal and state charges of fatally shooting Thompson in the back in cold blood outside UnitedHealthcare’s annual investor conference in Midtown on Dec. 4, 2024.

A trial date has yet to be set in the state case.

The accused killer had a five-o-clock shadow during a marathon separate hearing in Manhattan state court last month. via REUTERS

Prospective panelists in the federal case, held in the Southern District of New York, will be pulled from Manhattan, the Bronx, as well as several counties in White Plains and the Hudson Valley.

Garnett set the trial date Friday morning before holding a 90-minute hearing over whether police in Altoona, PA, a city more than 230 miles west of Manhattan, improperly searched Mangione’s backpack after detaining him in a McDonald’s five days after Thompson’s murder.

The Maryland native furiously jotted down notes as the court heard testimony from Altoona Police Department Deputy Chief Nathan Snyder, who fielded questions from the judge, a prosecutor and one of Mangione’s defense lawyers.

Mangione wants the judge to stop the feds from using key evidence found in his bag — including the pistol he allegedly used to kill Thompson and a notebook in which Mangione purportedly plotted to “wack” Thompson in a targeted hit inspired by criticism of the healthcare giant for denying claims.

“Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming,” Mangione allegedly wrote. 

Garnett called Friday’s hearing “very helpful” but did not immediately issue a ruling.

Mangione’s lawyers separately argued during a nine-day hearing in Manhattan state court last month that the same evidence should be removed from his state case.

The judge in that case, Gregory Carro, has said he will rule by May 18.