By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Public statements by Justice Department officials about Luigi Mangione, the man charged with killing an insurance executive last year, violated a court rule meant to protect criminal defendants against publicity that could prejudice a jury pool against them, the judge overseeing the case said on Wednesday.
In a written order, Manhattan-based U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett instructed prosecutors to advise Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to tell other Justice Department officials that any further violations could result in punishments including financial penalties or contempt of court.
Mangione, 27, has pleaded not guilty to charges of murdering Brian Thompson, the former chief executive of UnitedHealth Group’s insurance unit. Federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in his case.
Garnett’s order came after Mangione’s defense lawyers in a Tuesday night court filing said statements made by several Trump administration officials had jeopardized his chances of getting a fair trial.
They pointed to a Justice Department spokesperson’s September 19 X post referencing a comment President Donald Trump made in a September 18 interview with Fox News asserting that Mangione “shot someone in the back as clear as you’re looking at me.”
“POTUS is absolutely right,” the spokesperson, Chad Gilmartin, said in the since-deleted post.
Mangione’s lawyers also pointed to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt calling Mangione a “left-wing assassin” in a September 22 news conference.
Neither the Justice Department nor the White House immediately responded to requests for comment.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Bill Berkrot)
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