A hearing in Luigi Mangione’s state murder case over the killing of Brian Thompson was conducted behind closed doors on Wednesday after a judge excluded both the public and the media without providing a reason.
New York Judge Gregory Carro said the virtual proceeding was sealed at the defense’s request but offered no further explanation, prompting concerns about transparency in the high-profile case.
While court proceedings in the U.S. are generally open to the public, judges can restrict access in limited circumstances, such as when sensitive or confidential information is involved.
Carro held the hearing in his chambers at a Manhattan courthouse, where Mangione is due to stand trial on September 8. Mangione, his legal team and prosecutors all attended via video link. An attorney representing several news organizations sought an explanation for the closure in a letter to the judge but received no response and was turned away by court staff.
When the lawyer, Jeremy Chase, called Carro’s chambers Wednesday morning, he said the judge’s clerk told him: “We don’t read emails or letters at night. We go home.” She then hung up on him, he said in an email to news organizations obtained by The Associated Press.
After Wednesday’s hearing, Carro returned to the courtroom and announced it’s “sealed at the moment.” He scheduled an in-person hearing for June 16. That one, he said, will be open to the public.
Spokespeople for Mangione’s defense team and for the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which is prosecuting the case, declined to comment. A message seeking comment was left for a spokesperson for New York’s state court system.
Laura Italiano, a veteran New York City courts reporter who was in Carro’s courtroom on Wednesday, said this is the third time in six months that the judge and court staff have silenced or ignored journalists seeking access to evidence or proceedings in Mangione’s case.
At a pretrial hearing in December, court officers ejected a reporter from the courtroom after she tried objecting to Carro’s decision to seal certain evidence. In February, Carro held a 27-minute, off-the-record bench conference during an otherwise public hearing. Reporters emailed the judge to no avail and asked a court officer to relay a note to him, but the officer refused.
“We’re seeing serious transparency problems and the trial hasn’t even begun,” Italiano said. “There’s huge public interest in this case and the judge is carrying on as if that were not the case.”
Carro scheduled Wednesday’s hearing at the end of Mangione’s last court appearance on May 18.
After meeting briefly with prosecutors and Mangione’s lawyers at the bench at that prior proceeding, Carro said he’d hold a virtual hearing to discuss scheduling and jury selection issues. He gave no indication that it would be sealed, nor has anyone said how, why or when Mangione’s lawyers asked for it to be.
Typically when virtual hearings are scheduled in New York courts, the press and public are able to follow along by watching on TV monitors in the judge’s courtroom. When a party requests that a proceeding be sealed, a judge will often solicit input from the other side and allow third parties, such as the public and news media, to also provide input.
An AP reporter emailed Carro directly on Tuesday, asking him to share, even broadly, his reasoning for sealing Wednesday’s hearing, and whether a transcript or recording would be provided. The judge didn’t respond and, instead, forwarded the email to the court’s press office.
Mangione, 28, has pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges in the Dec. 4, 2024, killing. His federal trial, which involves stalking charges, is set to begin on Oct. 13. He could spend his life in prison if convicted in either case.
Thompson, 50, was killed as he walked to a 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, an Ivy League 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. At the May 18 hearing, Carro ruled that a gun and notebook that prosecutors say link Mangione to the killing can be used as evidence against him.
The gun, a 3D-printed pistol, matches the one used to kill Thompson, prosecutors said. The notebook describes wanting to “wack” a health insurance executive and rebelling against “the deadly, greed fueled health insurance cartel.”
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