Lawyers for accused UnitedHealthcare CEO assassin Luigi Mangione are arguing that media access rules for his upcoming state murder trial violate his constitutional right to a public trial.
In a recent court filing, Mangione's attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, claimed that limiting the trial to 68 journalists is unconstitutional, raising concerns that the court or district attorney could "hand-pick" which reporters are permitted to attend.
Agnifilo raised three objections in the filing, arguing that they amount to a constitutional violation. Firstly, her team was not consulted on media access for the upcoming September trial, and only became aware of a document outlining the guidelines from an independent journalist.
The document, titled "Media Access: PSNY v. Mangione," provided that no overflow room would be made available for the duration of the trial, and that only six journalists would be permitted to cover jury selection.
Agnifilo described the process as "unabashedly arbitrary and insufficient to satisfy the requirements of the Constitution." She is requesting a public hearing on the matter and wants the court to turn over a list of six journalists selected to cover jury selection, as well as an explanation of the criteria and who made the selection.
Mangione's attorneys are also seeking details on what efforts were made to secure an overflow courtroom and are requesting that the proceedings be broadcast live, as there isn't currently an overflow room.
The trial is scheduled to begin in January, but the media access issues are expected to be resolved before then.
