Jury in Luigi Mangione’s state trial will be anonymous, judge rules

Luigi Mangione appeared Tuesday morning in a New York courtroom where plans were nearly finalized for his state murder trial, which the judge has ruled will have an anonymous jury.

Mangione, 28, has pleaded not guilty to several state charges in connection with the December 2024 fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside the New York Hilton Midtown.

At Tuesday’s hearing, Justice Gregory Carro ordered the parties to team up on crafting a jury questionnaire — a task that could prove challenging given the case’s notoriety. Jury selection is set to begin Sept. 8, and the trial is expected to last about six weeks.

It was unclear when the jury questionnaire would be finalized, but Mangione’s side told NBC News that they expect to have a proposed draft this week. The parties are expected to coordinate on a survey that will address each side’s concerns and identify potential jurors who may be biased.

Jurors who make it past the initial screening process will face additional vetting in a process known as voir dire. Questionnaires are designed for the parties and judge to get a preliminary sense of a jury candidate’s background and beliefs.

On Tuesday, the courtroom was filled with journalists and some Mangione proponents, who were wearing green, a color that appeared to reference the Luigi character from the iconic Nintendo Super Mario games and subsequent movies.

Mangione entered the courtroom from a holding area wearing a gray suit. He glanced around the room before taking his seat next to his attorneys, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, Marc Agnifilo and Jacob Kaplan.

Carro ruled at the start of the hearing that the jury would be anonymous, a designation that is becoming increasingly common in high-profile cases in New York.