A lawyer for the accused assassin Luigi Mangione called the Manhattan District Attorney's Office's proposed trial date "unrealistic" as the former Ivy Leaguer's legal team prepares for a parallel trial in federal court.
"This is the first time that the defense is hearing about this request," Karen Friedman Agnifilo said in a statement Wednesday evening, after court filings revealed Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg's office had requested a start date of July 1.
"The federal government already has a firm trial date set in September," she said. "As a practical matter, Mr. Mangione's defense team will require the remainder of the year to prepare for that trial. We will respond to the court about this unrealistic request in the coming days."
U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett tentatively set federal jury selection for Sept. 8, with the trial to start either in the fall or winter, depending on how she rules on a defense motion to dismiss the two most serious charges.
If the defense succeeds in dismissing the most serious charge, murder through use of a firearm, the potential death penalty would be removed, and the trial would begin earlier.
Assistant Manhattan District Attorney Joel Seidemann called the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson a "cold-blooded execution" in a letter to New York Judge Gregory Carro Wednesday.
Read the second-degree murder in New York, parole would be on the table.
He also faces lesser charges in Pennsylvania, where police arrested him days after Thompson's murder in New York City.
Thompson, a 50-year-old father of two, lived in Minnesota and came to the Big Apple for a business conference with Wall Street investors. Surveillance video shows a hooded gunman approach him from behind outside the host hotel and shoot him multiple times in the back.
Federally, Mangione faces charges including interstate stalking and murder through use of a firearm.
He has pleaded not guilty.
Fox News' Maria Paronich contributed to this report.