SDNY/1oo CENTRE STREET, Aug 14 – As many
legacy media report that Luigi Mangione will plead guilty
in Federal court this morning, Inner City Press which most
recently fought and filed for wider access to the
still-scheduled New York State trial set to begin on
September 8 will focus on why, if he does, Mangione might
plead to Federal charges. Wouldn't he still face the
NYS trial?
Not necessarily. There is a
precedent, and a First Department (the NYS equivalent of
the Federal Courts of Appeal) precedent, in the matter of
Paul Manafort, who was represented by Todd Blanche.
New York's Criminal Procedure Law § 40.20
bars successive prosecution for the same act by both
federal and state authorities, broader protection than the
federal Constitution's own double jeopardy clause, which
generally permits successive state/federal prosecution
under the "separate sovereigns" doctrine.
New York's legislature opted, by statute,
to go further than the Constitution requires.
Then-Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance indicted
Manafort in March 2019 on 16 state counts (mortgage fraud,
falsifying business records) explicitly as a hedge against
a possible a Trump I pardon of Manafort's federal
convictions.
NYS Justice Maxwell Wiley dismissed the
state indictment on December 18, 2019, on double jeopardy
grounds, in a 26-page ruling: "Given the rather unique set
of facts pertaining to defendant's previous prosecution in
federal court, and given New York's law on this subject,
defendant's motion to dismiss the indictment as barred by
state double jeopardy law must be granted."
The Appellate Division, First
Department, unanimously affirmed on October 22, 2020:
People v. Manafort, 187 A.D.3d 612 (1st Dep't 2020).
The New York Court of Appeals denied leave
to appeal on February 4, 2021, ending the matter
permanently. Manhattan DA Vance had no further recourse.
Does now Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg view it
differently?
Paul Manafort's state and federal
fraud charges were near-identical in substance: same
transactions, same victims, same kind of harm. Here, New
York's state charges include first-degree murder as an act
of terrorism, under a statute specifically designed to
punish intimidation of a civilian population or coercion
of government policy, arguably a categorically different
"harm or evil" than a federal murder-by-firearm charge,
which is exactly the kind of distinction that would
trigger the CPL 40.20(2)(b) exception the Manafort courts
found absent in his case. That's a question the
Manhattan DA and Mangione's lawyers would have to fight
out.
CPL § 40.20 generally bars the second
prosecution. The DA tried to invoke the exception in CPL §
40.20(2)(b), which allows successive prosecution only
where "each of the offenses... contains an element which
is not an element of the other, and the statutory
provisions defining such offenses are designed to prevent
very different kinds of harm or evil." NYS Justice Wiley
and the First Department found the federal and state fraud
statutes protected essentially the same interest — the
same lenders, the same transactions — so the exception
didn't apply. The DA separately tried CPL § 40.30(4)
(arguing the federal dismissal implicitly authorized a new
prosecution); that was rejected too, since the federal
dismissal was explicitly with prejudice.
So, with this uploaded at 8 am on August 14, we'll
see what happens at 11 am and beyond.
More analysis on X for Subscribers here
and Substack here
The New York State trial of Luigi Mangione
will have an overflow courtroom for the press and public,
with video over the Manhattan DA's Office's objection
(which Inner City Press opposed in a letter to Justice
Gregory Carro, here).
This emerged at the final pre-trial
conference on August 11. Inner City Press arrived at 7 am,
letter in hand, and posted on social media. Finally things
began at 10 am, thread here.
Justice Carro: The Court has secured an
overflow courtroom. The DA has not played a role in it,
that is untrue. This court has worked to ensure
transparency. I don't want to here more about this. Mr.
Seidemann, this is not the first rodeo... Justice Carro:
Even in the overflow, no phones can be out. [Seems to mean
there will be video in the overflow courtroom.]
And extra on X for Subscribers here
and Substack here.
Inner City Press also wrote to
presiding Justice Gregory Carro on July 18, challenging
the lack of an overflow courtroom. It has continued to
push - and on July 31 Mangione's lawyers wrote to Justice
Carro. They say they only learned of the restriction from
Inner City Press. And they want a hearing on how it was
and perhaps is chosen, which media and which journalists
can enter and cover the trial.
The July 17 order came down off the website. The argument for an overflow courtroom became even stronger.
But on
August 7 without explanation an order for
August 11 went up - no overflow room, a
pre-agreed list without answers.
And at 5
pm on August 10 DA Bragg's prosecutor Joel
J. Seidemann wrote to Justice Carro. "We
take no position" appears three times,
including on the outsourcing of
media-selection to a private law firm,
while making one very specific,
substantive ask: that any overflow
courtroom carry audio only, no video feed.
That is
not a neutral position on capacity; it is
a request to give overflow spectators,
including press covering a trial this
outlet has repeatedly noted was open to
camera-equipped SDNY overflow rooms in the
same defendant's federal case, a lesser,
degraded form of access than the courtroom
itself provides. An audio-only feed means
the public and press in the overflow room
cannot see witnesses testify, cannot see
the defendant, cannot see anything jurors
or courtroom spectators can — a meaningful
reduction in what "public" trial access
actually means, dressed as a technical
recommendation rather than argued as a
closure.
And note: In DA Bragg's Trump
trial, the overflow courtroom had video.
How could it not, here?
More on this on X for Subscribers here
and Substack here
In the
Federal SDNY courthouse, which always
provides overflow rooms with video to view
trial of wide interest, Luigi Mangione was
presented on December 19, 2024 on four
charges, one of them death penalty
eligible, for the killing of UnitedHealth
CEO Brian Thompson. Inner City Press was
there, covering the case toward a book.
On April
1, 2025 DOJ announced it would seek the
death penalty against Mangione. But SDNY
Judge Margaret Garnett dismissed the death
eligible charges, and set an October 13
court date.
After some push back, Inner City Press
published a book Luigi Mangione Lone Wolf here,
now Amazon here
More on X
for Subscribers here and
Substack here
On
February 6, 2025 NYS Justice Gregory Carro
convened a hearing and, after a long
whispered sidebar, announced that NY and
he should go first, on June 8. Karen
Friedman Agnifilo said that was too fast,
and said she would raise double jeopardy.
Luigi
Mangione while being led out said it's
common sense, that's double jeopardy
February
6 extra on X for Subscribers here and
Substack here
Inner City Press pushed to get exhibits
unsealed, waiting through one of Justice
Carro's calendar days to hand up a letter.
While that led to unsealing, afterward
Justice Carro granted privileged access to
some, but not others, in the press corps.
On
February 9 Mangione's lawyers wrote to
SDNY Judge Garnett, recounting what
Justice Carro said and opposing it,
promising another filing - this one on
Patreon here
Now after NYS Justice Carro did everything he could to have his trial go before the Fed, on July 17 it was announced "Hon. Gregory Carro presiding... Overflow Courtroom: There will be NO overflow room for this proceeding Time Courtroom Opens: 9:30 am Duration of Proceeding: Approximately six to eight weeks; weekdays excluding Wednesdays Press Arrival Outside Courthouse: By 7:00-7:45 am." So, waiting two and a half hours, some days in the rain, to get in.
Who this benefits, other than fee-charging
line-sitting companies, is unclear. At a
minimum, or really as a first step to
getting this reversed, it must be
disclosed who made this decision, and why.
On July
18 Inner City Press streamed this
vlog on the topic; here is its
letter to Justice Carro, on DocumentCloud
since NYS has no PACER, here.
July 18 more on
X for Subscribers here
and Substack here.
And on
July 31, Mangione's lawyers Karen Friedman
Agnifilo, Marc Agnifilo and Jacob Kaplan
wrote in.
July 31
more on X for Subscribers here
and Substack here.
On August
3, the Office of Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg
responded, saying they played no rule on
OCA's July 17 "Access" plan - but notably
NOT saying if they favor an overflow room
as existed in their Trump prosecution.
August 3
more on X for Subscribers here
and Substack here