A Manhattan judge canceled the September trial while prosecutors prepare to answer a defense motion seeking dismissal of the state case.
NEW YORK CITY, NY — Luigi Mangione’s state murder trial in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has been postponed indefinitely while a Manhattan judge considers whether Mangione’s federal guilty plea prevents New York prosecutors from pursuing charges based on the same events.
Justice Gregory Carro on Monday canceled the trial that had been scheduled to begin Sept. 8 and gave the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office until Oct. 9 to respond to Mangione’s double jeopardy motion. Carro set a Dec. 10 hearing, eight days before Mangione is scheduled to be sentenced in his federal case. No new state trial date has been set.
Mangione, 28, pleaded guilty Aug. 14 in Manhattan federal court to interstate stalking resulting in death and cyberstalking through the use of interstate facilities resulting in death. He admitted during the federal proceeding that he shot Thompson in Manhattan on Dec. 4, 2024. Each federal count carries a maximum possible sentence of life in prison, and federal prosecutors have said they intend to seek that maximum penalty.
Immediately after the federal plea, Mangione’s lawyers asked Carro to dismiss the remaining state charges. The defense argues that New York’s double jeopardy protections prohibit another prosecution arising from the same criminal transaction. Mangione has pleaded not guilty in the state case, where he faces a second-degree murder charge and weapons charges.
The legal dispute turns in part on protections in New York law that go beyond the general rule allowing separate state and federal prosecutions. Section 40.20 of the state Criminal Procedure Law says a person generally may not be separately prosecuted for offenses based on the same act or criminal transaction, although the law lists several exceptions. Among them are cases in which the offenses have substantially different elements or are intended to prevent very different kinds of harm.
Mangione’s attorneys contend that the federal stalking offenses and the state murder case are built around the same course of conduct. They argue that his travel to New York, surveillance of Thompson and the shooting were components of one criminal transaction rather than legally distinct events that may be prosecuted separately.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has taken the opposite position. Prosecutors have said the state murder and weapons charges contain different legal elements from the federal stalking offenses and reflect New York’s separate interest in prosecuting a homicide within the state. District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office said after the federal plea that it was prepared to oppose the defense motions.
The federal prosecution changed significantly before Mangione entered his plea. He ultimately pleaded guilty to two stalking counts tied to Thompson’s death. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said Mangione admitted traveling from outside New York and targeting Thompson because of his position as UnitedHealthcare’s chief executive. Thompson, 50, was shot outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel as he approached a company investor conference.
Authorities arrested Mangione five days after the killing in Altoona, Pennsylvania. The shooting and the search for a suspect drew national attention, while separate federal and state cases created an unusual procedural fight over which prosecution could move forward and how the two cases would interact.
The double jeopardy question became more immediate once Mangione pleaded guilty in federal court. Under New York law, a previous prosecution can affect a later case after proceedings reach certain stages, including a conviction through a guilty plea. Carro previously rejected an earlier double jeopardy argument as premature because no federal plea or trial had yet occurred.
Carro must now decide whether Mangione’s federal conviction triggers New York’s statutory bar and, if so, whether one of the law’s exceptions permits the state case to continue. The ruling could have major consequences for the remaining prosecution. A state conviction for second-degree murder could carry a sentence of 25 years to life, while dismissal would end the state murder case unless an appellate court later reversed the decision.
For now, the Sept. 8 trial is off the calendar. Prosecutors are due to file their response by Oct. 9, and Mangione is expected back in state court Dec. 10. His federal sentencing before U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett is scheduled for Dec. 18.
Author note: Last updated August 17, 2026.