A federal judge addressed a possible death penalty charge in 2020 Engineering graduate Luigi Mangione's ongoing case last week.
Mangione, accused of killing former UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024, faces four charges in federal court and nine charges in New York state court. One of the federal charges against Mangione — murder by firearm — may result in the death penalty.
The Jan. 9 pretrial conference was Mangione’s first appearance in federal court since his April 2025 arraignment. At the conference, United States District Judge Margaret Garnett said she expects jury selection to begin in September and set Mangione’s next hearing date for Jan. 30.
If the murder charge remains, Garnett expects Mangione to stand trial in late December or early January 2027. If the charge is dropped, however, his trial might begin this October. Mangione has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Last month, Mangione’s lawyers accused authorities of publicly vowing to seek the death penalty before Mangione's indictment and turning his arrest into a “Marvel movie” spectacle. They also argued that two of the 13 total charges against him — including murder by firearm — are legally flawed. The prosecution contested the defense’s claims, arguing that “pretrial publicity, even when intense, is not itself a constitutional defect.”
At the conference, Garnett said she would rule on the defense’s request to drop death penalty charges and exclude certain evidence from the case proceedings at a later hearing. Evidence the defense hopes to exclude from trial includes the gun that police matched with the one used to kill Thompson, and a notebook in which Mangione reportedly described his desire to “wack” a health insurance executive.
Mangione’s defense argues that since police had not obtained a warrant before accessing that evidence, its inclusion in the case is illegal.
The pretrial appearance followed a three-week-long hearing in New York state court, which focused on whether the court would consider the weapon and notebook as evidence.
In the state case, Judge Gregory Carro provided the defense a Jan. 29 deadline to finalize a written argument and gave the prosecution until March 5 to submit its argument. After the prosecution’s submission, the defense will have two weeks to submit a reply.
The state hearing also revealed some previously unseen bodycam footage of police officers searching Mangione’s personal belongings, including handwritten notes that prosecutors characterized as a “to-do” list, as well as possible “escape routes.”
In September 2025, Carro cleared Mangione of two New York state terrorism charges and ruled that they were “legally insufficient.” Mangione still faces a count of second-degree murder in New York, which — if convicted —carries a 25-year sentence.
As a Penn student, Mangione studied at the School of Engineering and Applied Science and founded UPGRADE, the University’s first game development club. He graduated in 2020 with a bachelor’s and master’s degree in computer and information science.
On campus, Mangione was a member of Phi Kappa Psi, a University-affiliated fraternity. In a previous social media post, he claimed that his mental and physical issues were exacerbated by the fraternity’s “hell week.”
Mangione suffered from back issues and “brain fog,” which he posted about frequently on Reddit. His posts — which detailed the negative impact of the health issues on his overall well-being — also attributed his decline in academic success to worsening health.
“It’s absolutely brutal to have such a life-halting issue,” Mangione wrote on his brain fog. “The people around you probably won’t understand your symptoms — they certainly don’t for me.”
