The federal trial of Luigi Mangione, the 28-year-old accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan last December, has been postponed until January, U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett ruled on Monday. Jury selection will now begin on 5 January, with opening statements set for 25 January, instead of the previously scheduled October and November dates. The judge cited the impossibility of conducting jury selection while Mangione and his legal team are fully occupied with a parallel state murder trial, which is due to start on 8 September.

From the bench, Judge Garnett described her earlier hope of holding the federal trial this autumn as “undue optimism,” noting that the state case must take precedence. Defence lawyers had argued that consecutive trials on a compressed timeline would violate their client’s constitutional rights; Mangione himself, at a February hearing, called the dual prosecutions “double jeopardy by any commonsense definition.” The U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York, which is pursuing federal charges of interstate stalking and murder, had been negotiating a jury questionnaire with the defence, objecting to questions it deemed overly intrusive or duplicative. Those questionnaires will remain sealed until a panel is chosen, the judge said, to avoid prejudicing the pool.

The federal indictment alleges Mangione travelled by bus from out of state to stalk and kill Thompson, using a 3D-printed pistol and a notebook in which he reportedly wrote of his intent to “wack” an insurance executive. The state case, which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years to life for second-degree murder, is proceeding first. Last week, anonymous sources told U.S. media that plea negotiations between federal prosecutors and the defence had collapsed; Mangione’s lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, accused the government of a “deliberate pattern” of leaks designed to prejudice her client. The defence briefly signalled it would pursue an extreme emotional disturbance defence in the state trial—a strategy that would have required admitting the shooting but could reduce a murder conviction to manslaughter—only to withdraw the notice a day later. Such a defence is not available under federal law.

The case has become a flashpoint for public anger toward the U.S. health insurance industry. An online legal defence fund has raised more than $1.5 million, and about two dozen supporters attended Monday’s hearing, which was delayed after Mangione became stuck in a courthouse elevator. Viewed from Washington, the dual prosecutions highlight the overlapping jurisdiction of state and federal authorities in high-profile violent crimes. The state trial remains on track for September; the federal case will resume with jury selection in January, with the questionnaire kept confidential until then.