Prosecutors Say Luigi Mangione Supporters Could Intimidate Witnesses and Jurors in Murder Trial

Manhattan prosecutors are raising alarms that supporters of Mangione, the defendant charged with fatally shooting Thompson from behind outside a Manhattan hotel on Dec. 4, 2024, could try to pressure witnesses or influence jurors during the closely watched trial.

“The media attention surrounding this case — and the efforts of some of defendant’s supporters both to intimidate witnesses and to interfere with the functioning of the jury — will place extraordinary pressure on witnesses and potential jurors alike,” Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann wrote Monday evening in a letter to Judge Gregory Carro.

With the trial set to begin next month, prosecutors are urging the court to restrict access to the courtroom and rigorously enforce rules governing conduct inside the courthouse.

The district attorney’s office also argued that an overflow room for additional members of the media could create enforcement challenges for court officers, particularly if interest in the case exceeds the capacity of the main courtroom.

“We are particularly concerned about the possibility that a spectator in an overflow courtroom will clandestinely record the proceedings and share any such recordings with others,” prosecutors wrote. “That concern will only be heightened if the overflow room includes a video feed as well as an audio feed.”

Seidemann told the judge that if an overflow space is permitted, it should carry audio only, a measure prosecutors say would reduce the risk of witness intimidation, harassment and unauthorized recordings.

Read the prosecution letter:

“The conventional wisdom is that the defense usually doesn’t want high-profile cases broadcast. It can put implicit pressure on jurors to return a guilty verdict,” Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor, told News Outlet last week.

But Mangione’s defense team is likely aware that the defendant has a sizable number of supporters and is aiming to leverage that, he said.

“There’s upwards of 10 to 20 percent of the people who have been surveyed who believe that even if he did it, it was justified,” Rahmani said. “And I think the defense knows this, and they know that more attention creates the possibility of jury nullification, or maybe even an acquittal.”

Thompson, a 50-year-old father of two from Minnesota, was walking to a business conference when surveillance video shows a man firing multiple bullets into his back. Police arrested Mangione days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

He was due in court Tuesday for a conference ahead of his trial, which is set to begin next month before Judge Carro.

Mangione’s legal team has requested a publicly televised trial, something that New York law doesn’t typically allow.

In June, Mangione’s defense team announced plans to assert a psychiatric defense in the state case — then withdrew it a dat later.

Mangione has pleaded not guilty to eight state charges, including second-degree murder, which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison under New York law.

He is expected to go to trial in a parallel federal case early next year.