NEW YORK (AP) — Luigi Mangione spoke out in court Friday against the prospect of back-to-back trials over the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, telling a judge: “It’s the same trial twice. One plus one is two. Double jeopardy by any commonsense definition.”
Mangione, 27, made the remarks as court officers escorted him out of the courtroom after a judge scheduled his state murder trial to begin June 8, three months before jury selection in his federal case.
Judge Gregory Carro, matter-of-fact in his decision after a lengthy discussion with prosecutors and defense lawyers at the bench, said the state trial could be delayed until Sept 8 if an appeal delays the federal trial.
Mangione’s lawyers objected to the June trial date, telling Carro that at that time, they'll be consumed with preparing for the federal trial, which involves allegations that Mangione stalked Thompson before killing him.
“Mr. Mangione is being put in an untenable situation," defense lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo said. "This is a tug-of-war between two different prosecution offices.”
“The defense will not be ready on June 8," she added.
“Be ready,” Carro replied.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges, both of which carry the possibility of life in prison. Last week, the judge in the federal case ruled that prosecutors can’t seek the death penalty.
Jury selection in the federal case is set for Sept. 8, followed by opening statements and testimony on Oct. 13.
Wearing a tan jail suit, Mangione sat quietly at the defense table until his outburst at the end of the hearing.
As the trial calendar began to take shape, Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann sent a letter to Carro asking him to begin the New York trial on July 1.
The prosecutor argued that the state’s interests “would be unfairly prejudiced by an unnecessary delay” until after the federal trial. Under the law, he said, the state has “priority of jurisdiction for purposes of trial, sentencing and incarceration" because Mangione was arrested by New York City police, not federal authorities.
When Mangione was arrested, federal prosecutors said anticipated that the state trial would go first. Seidemann told Carro on Friday that Thompson’s family has also expressed a desire to see the state trial happen first.
“It appears the federal government has reneged on its agreement to let the state, which has done most of the work in this case, go first,” Carro said Friday.
Scheduling the state trial first could help Manhattan prosecutors avoid double jeopardy issues. Under New York law, the district attorney’s office could be barred from trying Mangione if his federal trial happens first.
The state’s double jeopardy protections kick in if a jury has been sworn in a prior prosecution, such as a federal case, or if that prosecution ends in a guilty plea. The cases involve different charges but the same alleged course of conduct.
Mangione isn’t due in court again in the state case until May, when Carro is expected to rule on a defense request to exclude certain evidence that prosecutors say connects Mangione to the killing.
Those items include a 9 mm handgun that prosecutors say matches the one used to kill Thompson and a notebook in which they say he described his intent to “wack” a health insurance executive.
Last week, Garnett ruled that prosecutors can use those items at that trial.
In September, Carro threw out state terrorism charges but kept the rest of the case, including an intentional murder charge.
Thompson, 50, was killed on Dec. 4, 2024, as he walked to a midtown Manhattan hotel for UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor conference.
Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind. Police say “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.
Mangione, a University of Pennsylvania graduate from a wealthy Maryland family, was arrested five days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of Manhattan.
FILE - Luigi Mangione appears in Manhattan Criminal Court for an evidence hearing, Thursday , Dec. 18, 2025, in New York. (Curtis Means/Pool Photo via AP, File)
ISLAMABAD (AP) — A suicide bomber targeted a Shiite mosque on the outskirts of Islamabad during Friday prayers, killing 31 people and wounding at least 169 others, officials said, a rare bombing in Pakistan's capital as its Western-allied government struggles to rein in a surge in militant attacks across the country.
Television footage and social media images showed police and residents transporting the wounded to nearby hospitals. Some of the wounded in the attack on the sprawling mosque of Khadija Al-Kubra were reported to be in critical condition.
Rescuers and witnesses described a harrowing scene, with bodies and wounded lying on the mosque's carpeted floor. Hussain Shah said he was praying in the mosque courtyard when he heard a sudden, loud explosion.
“I immediately thought that some big attack had happened,” he said. He then went into the mosque to utter chaos — many of the wounded were screaming and crying out for help. Shah said he counted around 30 bodies inside the mosque, while the number of the wounded appeared to be significantly higher.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the explosion, but suspicion is likely to fall on militants such as the Pakistani Taliban or the Islamic State group, which has been blamed for previous attacks on Shiite worshippers, a minority in the country. Militant groups across Pakistan often target security forces and civilians.
Though attacks are not so frequent in Islamabad, Pakistan has seen a surge in militant violence in recent months, largely blamed on Baloch separatist groups and the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, which is a separate group, but allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban. A regional affiliate of the Islamic State group has also been active in the country.
In the initial aftermath of the explosion, a lower number of casualties was released, but Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Irfan Memon gave the latest tolls.
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif wrote on X that preliminary findings suggest the suicide bomber had been on the move to and from Afghanistan. Asif said the mosque's security guards tried to intercept the suspect, who opened fire at them and then detonated his explosives among the worshippers.
The condition of the guards was not immediately known.
The Afghan Defense Ministry said Afghanistan condemned the mosque attack in Islamabad and said the Pakistani defense minister had “irresponsibly” linked the attack to Afghanistan.
Pakistan often accuses Afghanistan, where the Taliban seized power again in August 2021 as American and NATO troops were withdrawing after a 20-year war, of harboring militants and members of the Pakistani Taliban. Kabul denies the accusation.
Afghanistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement Friday saying that the “Islamic Republic of Afghanistan condemns such attacks that violate the sanctity of sacred rituals and mosques and target worshippers and innocent people.”
The attack also drew condemnation from the international community, including the United Sates and European Union. Condolences and condemnation also poured in from various embassies in Islamabad.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif extended condolences to the families of the victims in sperate statements and asked that all possible medical assistance be provided for those wounded.
“Targeting innocent civilians is a crime against humanity,” Zardari said. “The nation stands with the affected families in this difficult time.”
“Those who are responsible must be identified and punished,” Sharif said. Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi also condemned the attack.
Friday’s attack occurred as Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who is on an official two-day visit, was attending an event with Sharif. The event in Islamabad was several miles away from the site of the explosion.
A top Shiite leader, Raja Nasir, expressed deep sorrow over the attack at Khadija Al-Kubra.
“Such a terrorist act in the federal capital is not only a serious failure in protecting human lives but also raises significant questions about the performance of the authorities and law enforcement agencies,” he said and asked for people to give blood as the hospitals in Islamabad were in urgent need for blood supplies for the wounded.
It was the deadliest attack in Islamabad since 2008 when a suicide bombing targeted the Marriott Hotel in the capital, killing 63 people and wounding over 250 others. In November, a suicide bomber had struck outside a court in Islamabad, killing 12 people.
The latest attack came nearly a week after the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army carried out multiple attacks in insurgency-hit southwestern Balochistan province, killing about 50 people.
Security forces responding to those attacks also killed more than 200 “terrorists,” according to the military.
Hours after the Islamabad bombing, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif said on X that she had canceled her events at the music and kite-flying festival in the city of Lahore for Saturday. The festival, which got underway on Friday, was still expected to continue.
Associated Press writers Babar Dogar in Lahore and Asim Tanveer in Multan, Pakistan, and Abdul Qahar Afghan in Kabul, Afghanistan, contributed to this story.
People comfort a man, center, mourning over the death of his relative, close to the site of a bomb explosion at a Shiite mosque, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
Pakistani security officers and rescue worker gather at the site of a bomb explosion at a Shiite mosque, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
Pakistani paramilitary and police commandos take positions at the site of a bomb explosion at a Shiite mosque, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
People comfort a man, center, mourning over the death of his relative, close to the site of a bomb explosion at a Shiite mosque, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
Pakistani security officers and rescue worker gather at the site of a bomb explosion at a Shiite mosque, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
