By Luc Cohen and Aleksandra Michalska
NEW YORK, April 1 (Reuters) - The support Luigi Mangione has attracted since his arrest over the killing of a health insurance executive in Manhattan shows the need for him to go to trial as soon as possible, a federal prosecutor said on Wednesday.
At a court hearing, U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett pushed back the start of Mangione's federal trial on stalking charges stemming from the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson by a few weeks to October 5.
Lawyers for Mangione, 27, had asked her to delay the trial until next year to give him more time to prepare.
While public officials widely condemned Thompson's killing, Mangione became a folk hero of sorts to some Americans who decry high costs for U.S. medical care and health insurer practices.
Gatherings of small groups of Mangione supporters have been a regular presence outside his court hearings since his arrest for allegedly killing Thompson on December 4, 2024.
Roughly a dozen supporters gathered on Wednesday outside the courthouse in lower Manhattan, including one woman wearing a pink shirt depicting Mangione's face inside a heart shape.
"Your honor need only look out the window to see the people who follow this defendant and believe that what he did was right," prosecutor Dominic Gentile said.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to the federal stalking charges.
MANGIONE ALSO FACES STATE MURDER CHARGES
Mangione has been jailed since his arrest in Pennsylvania five days after the shooting death of Thompson, who led UnitedHealth Group's health insurance business, outside a hotel in midtown Manhattan.
He also faces a separate trial on New York state murder charges starting on June 8. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges.
Garnett moved the federal trial to make sure Mangione could review the screening questionnaires that roughly 800 prospective jurors are expected to fill out. His lawyers had argued he would not have enough time to do that because of the state trial.
In-person jury selection for Mangione's federal case is now expected to begin on October 5, rather than September 8, with opening statements scheduled for October 26 or November 2, rather than October 13.
Mangione could face a life sentence if convicted of the federal stalking charges and 25 years to life in prison if found guilty at the state trial.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen and Aleksandra Michalska in New York; Editing by Nia Wiliams and Bill Berkrot)
