New York
Luigi Mangione’s lawyers seek to delay his state and federal trials
NEW YORK (AP) — Luigi Mangione’s lawyers asked a judge on Wednesday to postpone his federal trial in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson until early next year and said they will seek to have his state murder trial delayed until September.
In a letter to U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett, Mangione’s lawyers said that the current schedule — the state trial in June and the federal trial in September — would put him “in the position of needing to prepare for two complicated and serious trials at the same time.”
They asked Garnett to delay the federal trial until January 2027 so that they can have an opportunity to ask the state trial judge, Gregory Carro, to reschedule the start of that case from June 8 to Sept. 8. Mangione has pleaded not guilty in both cases.
Carro previously raised the possibility of moving the state trial to September — but only if federal prosecutors appealed Garnett’s decision barring them from seeking the death penalty. They declined to do so, leaving the June state trial and September federal trial dates intact.
Keeping the current schedule would violate Mangione’s constitutional rights, his lawyers argued.
Among other concerns, they said, preparations for jury selection in the federal case would overlap with the state trial, limiting Mangione’s ability to review questionnaires filled out by hundreds of potential jurors — infringing on his right to participate in his own defense.
Back-to-back trials would also rob Mangione of his right to effective assistance of counsel, his lawyers said, because they would be forced to prepare for the federal trial while simultaneously defending him in court at the state trial.
“Though fierce advocates for their clients, defense counsel cannot be in two places at once,” wrote Mangione’s lawyers, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, Marc Agnifilo and Jacob Kaplan.
Federal prosecutors oppose the request, they said.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, which is prosecuting the federal case, declined to comment. A message seeking comment was left for the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which is prosecuting the state case.
Mangione, 27, faces the possibility of life in prison if he’s convicted in either case. At a court hearing in February, he spoke out against the prospect of two trials, telling the judge: “It’s the same trial twice. One plus one is two. Double jeopardy by any commonsense definition.”
Thompson, 50, was killed on Dec. 4, 2024, as he walked to a midtown Manhattan hotel for UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor conference. Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind. Police say the words “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.
Mangione, a University of Pennsylvania graduate from a wealthy Maryland family, was arrested five days later after he was spotted eating at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (370 kilometers) west of Manhattan.
His lawyers have argued that authorities prejudiced his case by turning his arrest into a “Marvel movie” spectacle, including by having armed officers parade him up a Manhattan pier after he was flown to New York and by publicly declaring their desire to seek the death penalty before he was indicted.
In January, Garnett dismissed a federal murder charge — murder through use of a firearm — that had enabled prosecutors to seek capital punishment, finding it legally flawed. She wrote that she did so to “foreclose the death penalty as an available punishment to be considered by the jury” when it weighs whether to convict Mangione.
In their letter, Mangione’s lawyers argued that delaying the federal trial would allow a buffer between his state trial and the beginning of the juror questionnaire process that precedes jury selection in the federal matter.
Without a delay, they wrote, “Mr. Mangione’s potential federal jurors will be constantly bombarded with news reports and social media posts relating to the allegations and evidence against Mr. Mangione as they fill out juror questionnaires and in the subsequent weeks before they are empaneled in the federal case.”
Florida
Hospital sues to evict a patient who won’t leave room 5 months after discharge
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The patient in Room 373 refuses to leave.
Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare earlier this month sued the patient, saying she has refused to depart her hospital room since being discharged last October. The hospital also has asked a state judge in Tallahassee for an injunction ordering the patient to vacate the hospital room and authorizing the county sheriff’s office to assist if necessary.
The hospital said that resources have been diverted from helping other patients because of her occupation of the room.
“Defendant’s continued occupancy prevents use of the bed for patients needing acute care,” the hospital said in the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, the woman was admitted to the hospital for medical treatment and a formal discharge order was issued Oct. 6 after it was determined that she no longer needed acute care services. The hospital has repeatedly made efforts to coordinate her departure with family members and offered transportation to obtain necessary identification, the lawsuit said.
Rachel Givens, an attorney for the hospital, said Wednesday that the hospital had no comment. The hospital didn’t respond to emailed questions, including about what type of identification the patient needed. The lawsuit doesn’t say what the patient was treated for, what her hospital bill was or how she was able to stay at the hospital for more than five months despite being discharged.
No attorney was listed for the patient, who is representing herself. Phones numbers listed in an online database for the patient were disconnected. No one answered the phone when a call was put through to her room at the hospital.
An online court hearing on the lawsuit is scheduled for the end of the month.
Under the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, hospitals that receive Medicare funds must provide treatment that stabilizes anyone coming to an emergency department with an emergency medical condition, even if the patient doesn’t have insurance or the ability to pay. Hospitals can be investigated by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for violations.
The patient can be discharged when the clinicians have determined that any further care can be provided as an outpatient, “provided the individual is given a plan for appropriate follow-up care as part of the discharge instructions,” the federal agency said in an operations manual.
Luigi Mangione’s lawyers seek to delay his state and federal trials
NEW YORK (AP) — Luigi Mangione’s lawyers asked a judge on Wednesday to postpone his federal trial in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson until early next year and said they will seek to have his state murder trial delayed until September.
In a letter to U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett, Mangione’s lawyers said that the current schedule — the state trial in June and the federal trial in September — would put him “in the position of needing to prepare for two complicated and serious trials at the same time.”
They asked Garnett to delay the federal trial until January 2027 so that they can have an opportunity to ask the state trial judge, Gregory Carro, to reschedule the start of that case from June 8 to Sept. 8. Mangione has pleaded not guilty in both cases.
Carro previously raised the possibility of moving the state trial to September — but only if federal prosecutors appealed Garnett’s decision barring them from seeking the death penalty. They declined to do so, leaving the June state trial and September federal trial dates intact.
Keeping the current schedule would violate Mangione’s constitutional rights, his lawyers argued.
Among other concerns, they said, preparations for jury selection in the federal case would overlap with the state trial, limiting Mangione’s ability to review questionnaires filled out by hundreds of potential jurors — infringing on his right to participate in his own defense.
Back-to-back trials would also rob Mangione of his right to effective assistance of counsel, his lawyers said, because they would be forced to prepare for the federal trial while simultaneously defending him in court at the state trial.
“Though fierce advocates for their clients, defense counsel cannot be in two places at once,” wrote Mangione’s lawyers, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, Marc Agnifilo and Jacob Kaplan.
Federal prosecutors oppose the request, they said.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, which is prosecuting the federal case, declined to comment. A message seeking comment was left for the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which is prosecuting the state case.
Mangione, 27, faces the possibility of life in prison if he’s convicted in either case. At a court hearing in February, he spoke out against the prospect of two trials, telling the judge: “It’s the same trial twice. One plus one is two. Double jeopardy by any commonsense definition.”
Thompson, 50, was killed on Dec. 4, 2024, as he walked to a midtown Manhattan hotel for UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor conference. Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind. Police say the words “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.
Mangione, a University of Pennsylvania graduate from a wealthy Maryland family, was arrested five days later after he was spotted eating at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (370 kilometers) west of Manhattan.
His lawyers have argued that authorities prejudiced his case by turning his arrest into a “Marvel movie” spectacle, including by having armed officers parade him up a Manhattan pier after he was flown to New York and by publicly declaring their desire to seek the death penalty before he was indicted.
In January, Garnett dismissed a federal murder charge — murder through use of a firearm — that had enabled prosecutors to seek capital punishment, finding it legally flawed. She wrote that she did so to “foreclose the death penalty as an available punishment to be considered by the jury” when it weighs whether to convict Mangione.
In their letter, Mangione’s lawyers argued that delaying the federal trial would allow a buffer between his state trial and the beginning of the juror questionnaire process that precedes jury selection in the federal matter.
Without a delay, they wrote, “Mr. Mangione’s potential federal jurors will be constantly bombarded with news reports and social media posts relating to the allegations and evidence against Mr. Mangione as they fill out juror questionnaires and in the subsequent weeks before they are empaneled in the federal case.”
Florida
Hospital sues to evict a patient who won’t leave room 5 months after discharge
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The patient in Room 373 refuses to leave.
Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare earlier this month sued the patient, saying she has refused to depart her hospital room since being discharged last October. The hospital also has asked a state judge in Tallahassee for an injunction ordering the patient to vacate the hospital room and authorizing the county sheriff’s office to assist if necessary.
The hospital said that resources have been diverted from helping other patients because of her occupation of the room.
“Defendant’s continued occupancy prevents use of the bed for patients needing acute care,” the hospital said in the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, the woman was admitted to the hospital for medical treatment and a formal discharge order was issued Oct. 6 after it was determined that she no longer needed acute care services. The hospital has repeatedly made efforts to coordinate her departure with family members and offered transportation to obtain necessary identification, the lawsuit said.
Rachel Givens, an attorney for the hospital, said Wednesday that the hospital had no comment. The hospital didn’t respond to emailed questions, including about what type of identification the patient needed. The lawsuit doesn’t say what the patient was treated for, what her hospital bill was or how she was able to stay at the hospital for more than five months despite being discharged.
No attorney was listed for the patient, who is representing herself. Phones numbers listed in an online database for the patient were disconnected. No one answered the phone when a call was put through to her room at the hospital.
An online court hearing on the lawsuit is scheduled for the end of the month.
Under the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, hospitals that receive Medicare funds must provide treatment that stabilizes anyone coming to an emergency department with an emergency medical condition, even if the patient doesn’t have insurance or the ability to pay. Hospitals can be investigated by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for violations.
The patient can be discharged when the clinicians have determined that any further care can be provided as an outpatient, “provided the individual is given a plan for appropriate follow-up care as part of the discharge instructions,” the federal agency said in an operations manual.
