Luigi Mangione to appear in court over UnitedHealthcare chief’s death

The man accused of fatally shooting the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare in New York City is scheduled to appear in court for the first time since his arraignment on state murder and terror charges in December.

Luigi Mangione, 26, is set for a hearing in the state court in Manhattan.

Prosecutors and Mangione’s defence lawyers are expected to provide updates on the status of the case and Judge Gregory Carro could set deadlines for pre-trial paperwork and possibly even a trial date.

Mangione has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of murder, including murder as an act of terrorism, in the December 4 killing of Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel. The executive was ambushed and shot on the street as he walked to an investor conference.

The accused also faces federal charges that could carry the possibility of the death penalty.

He is being held in a Brooklyn federal jail alongside several other high-profile defendants, including Sean “Diddy” Combs and Sam Bankman-Fried.

Prosecutors have said the two cases will proceed on parallel tracks, with the state charges expected to go to trial first.

The maximum sentence for the state charges is life in prison without parole. A February 24 hearing in Pennsylvania on charges of possessing an unlicensed firearm, forgery and providing false identification to police was cancelled.

In a statement posted on a website for his legal defence, Mangione said: “I am overwhelmed by – and grateful for – everyone who has written me to share their stories and express their support.

“Powerfully, this support has transcended political, racial, and even class divisions.”

Mangione was arrested in a Pennsylvania McDonald’s restaurant on December 9.

Police said he was carrying a gun that matched the one used in the shooting and a fake ID. He also was carrying a notebook expressing hostility toward the health insurance industry and especially wealthy executives, authorities said.

Defence lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo argued at his December 23 arraignment that “warring jurisdictions” had turned Mangione into a “human ping-pong ball”.

She accused New York City Mayor Eric Adams and other government officials of tainting the jury pool by bringing Mangione back to Manhattan in a choreographed spectacle involving heavily armed officers escorting him up a pier from a heliport.

Ms Friedman Agnifilo singled out Mr Adams’ comment on a local TV station that he wanted to be there to look “him in the eye and say, ‘you carried out this terroristic act in my city’.”