Selection of the anonymous jury was supposed to begin Sept. 8, but Judge Gregory Carro has now put that start date on hold until at least December.
Mangione pleaded guilty on Friday to two federal interstate stalking charges stemming from the midtown Manhattan shooting that occurred as Thompson walked into a hotel to address an annual investors conference.
His sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 18. Mangione faces a maximum sentence of life in prison, which federal prosecutors have pledged to seek; however, court documents indicate the suggested sentence would likely be between 24 and 30 years once mitigating factors are taken into account.
To court watchers, the plea was an obvious strategic maneuver to trigger New York’s double jeopardy statute. The Fifth Amendment protects people from being tried or punished twice for the same offense, but the Empire State takes that further.
“The New York statute is stricter,” explained Anna Cominsky, a law professor and director of the criminal defense clinic at New York Law School.
“That’s one of the reasons why we've seen the jockeying between the federal government and state government in terms of who's going to go first,” she added. “Because if the state went first, the state would not have to worry about this issue with New York's double jeopardy law, but when the feds go first, now it comes into play.”
It didn’t take long for Mangione’s lawyers, led by Karen Friedman Agnifilo, to file a motion in state court asking Carro to dismiss second-degree murder and weapons charges.
“He has been treated differently from every other defendant charged with this offense in New York,” Agnifilo told reporters after Friday’s hearing. “However, thankfully, New York law doesn’t allow this.”
Friday’s plea hearing marked a dramatic shift in the prosecution against Mangione, who first captivated the nation after a five-day manhunt led to his arrest at a Pennsylvania fast-food restaurant.
Public opinion quickly became divided, with Mangione’s supporters arguing that his frustrations with the health insurance industry were enough to justify the killing of a wealthy executive.
Mangione told U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett on Friday that he posed as a potential multibillion-dollar investor to confirm the conference location and received an “immediate response” — drawing a direct parallel to his previous experiences with insurance companies as a sufferer of severe back pain.
“On the morning of December 4, 2024, I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan and he died,” Mangione admitted. “When I did so, I understood that my actions would place him in fear of death or serious bodily injury. I knew what I was doing was illegal."
As he now hopes to toss his state case, Mangione’s lawyers contend he has been a “pawn in parallel prosecutions” by the state and federal governments that seek to “punish him separately for the same event.”
The dispute hinges on the specific language of the New York statute, which bars separate prosecutions based on the “same act or criminal transaction” unless the offenses have “substantially different elements” and are “designed to prevent very different kinds of harm or evil,” among other exemptions.
The defense argues that these exceptions don’t apply because both sets of current charges relate to the same “unlawful taking of a human life.” State prosecutors, on the other hand, will likely be trying to convince the judge that they are distinct.
“Where I think the issue is going to come in is that the facts that Mangione pled guilty to, the allocution that he gave in federal court, mirrors the facts," Cominsky said. “Therefore, that argument about them being different offenses, having different elements, weakens significantly because the facts are sort of one and the same.”
Carro called the double jeopardy arguments “premature” in earlier proceedings, but Mangione’s guilty plea may change that calculus.
The judge has ordered the Manhattan district attorney’s office to respond to the dismissal motion by Oct. 9. The defense will then have an opportunity to reply, with a hearing to follow in early December.
In the meantime, state prosecutors say they have been “tirelessly preparing” to pursue a trial conviction and are “committed to seeking justice” for Thompson.
“While federal sentencing is pending, we are prepared to litigate the defense motions,” a spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s (D) office said on Friday.
