People v. Mangione, the courtroom

Courtroom View · Preview

The room, one moment at a time

The same case as the Chronological View, drawn as the room it happened in. Move the line along the bar, or step with Previous and Next, and the room changes with the moment: who was in it, who was only on a screen, and which parts of it stood empty.

Still being built. A filled circle is someone a source places in the room that day: a minute entry, a transcript, a photograph or a report, linked from the card. A hollow one is someone who was part of the case at that point and is not recorded in the room, which on most dates is because nothing happened in court at all. A question mark explains a part of the room. The plan is a plain one and not a drawing of the real courtroom.

Bench Witness stand Reporter Jury box Prosecution Defence The bar Public gallery

In the room

The state court, Part 32

Carro, J.

Gregory Carro hears the New York prosecution. Two judges in two courthouses are drawn at one bench here because the two cases act on each other. Only one of them is ever in the room.

AP, 16 Sept 2025; NBC News, 6 Feb 2026
Magistrate judge, federal court

Parker, M.J.

Katharine H. Parker took his first federal appearance and ordered him held, on consent and without prejudice.

Minute entry, 19 Dec 2024
The federal court, S.D.N.Y.

Garnett, J.

Margaret M. Garnett has the federal case from the indictment on. Took the arraignment, every conference since, and the guilty plea of 14 August 2026.

Minute entries, 25 Apr 2025, 14 Aug 2026
Court staff

The court reporter

Every federal minute entry records a court reporter present. The transcripts of two later conferences were unsealed, with redactions, on 28 August 2026.

Minute entry, 25 Apr 2025
The state prosecution

The District Attorney’s office

The indictment of 17 December 2024 is signed by District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg Jr. The reporting used here does not name the prosecutor in court before December 2025.
For the People

Joel Seidemann

Assistant District Attorney. Questioned the officers at the December suppression hearing, and on 6 February 2026 told the court the killing happened “on our streets, in our city.”

WABC, 11 Dec 2025; NBC News, 6 Feb 2026
For the United States

Dominic Gentile

Assistant U.S. Attorney. The one federal prosecutor at his first appearance, and present at every federal hearing since.

Minute entries, 19 Dec 2024, 14 Aug 2026
For the United States

Jun Xiang

Assistant U.S. Attorney. Present at every hearing from the arraignment on.

Minute entries, 25 Apr 2025, 1 Apr 2026
For the United States

Alexandra Messiter

Assistant U.S. Attorney. Present at the arraignment and at most hearings since. Not at the conference of 1 April 2026.

Minute entries, 25 Apr 2025, 29 Jun 2026
For the United States

Thomas Wright

Assistant U.S. Attorney. Present at the arraignment and at most hearings since. Not at the conference of 1 April 2026.

Minute entries, 25 Apr 2025, 29 Jun 2026
The defendant

Mangione

Held in federal custody in Brooklyn throughout, and produced for each court in turn. In state court he has appeared in jail clothes and shackles.

AP, 16 Sept 2025; minute entry, 14 Aug 2026
Retained counsel

Karen Friedman Agnifilo

With him from his first federal appearance. Cross-examined officers at the state suppression hearing, and on 6 February 2026 told the state court the defence would not be ready by June.

Minute entry, 19 Dec 2024; WABC, 12 Dec 2025; NBC News, 6 Feb 2026
Retained counsel

Marc Agnifilo

With him from his first federal appearance, and at every federal hearing since.

Minute entries, 19 Dec 2024, 14 Aug 2026
Retained counsel

Jacob Kaplan

At every federal hearing from the arraignment on. In state court, cross-examined the sergeant who photographed what came out of the backpack.

Minute entry, 25 Apr 2025; WABC, 11 Dec 2025
Learned counsel

Avraham Moskowitz

Appointed at public expense on 4 February 2025 because the federal case was capital. Relieved in April 2026, once it no longer was.

Minute entries, 25 Apr 2025, 30 Jan 2026
Also for the defence

Schulman, Neff and Patel

Eylan Schulman, Christopher Neff and Paresh Patel appeared with the defence on 9 and 23 January 2026. Schulman and Neff were there again on the 30th.

Minute entries, 9 Jan 2026, 23 Jan 2026, 30 Jan 2026
On the stand

An Altoona police officer

The court had ordered the government to produce an officer who could speak to how the Altoona department secured and inventoried an arrested person’s property. The minute entry records testimony and does not name the witness.

Minute entry, 23 Jan 2026
On the stand, over several days

Altoona police officers

The officers from the arrest, one after another: among them Lt. William Hanelly, the senior officer at the McDonald’s, Sgt. John Burns, Sgt. Eric Heuston and Officer Samuel McCoy.

WABC, 11 Dec 2025; WABC, 12 Dec 2025
The jury box

Empty: no jury in either case

Federal jury selection was set for 8 September 2026, then 13 October, then 5 January 2027, and the plea of 14 August ended the need for one. The state trial set for 8 September 2026 has not begun.

Minute entry, 29 Jun 2026
The public gallery

Supporters, and the press

A few dozen supporters came, most of them women and some dressed in green. About two dozen had queued outside to get in, one of them for thirty hours.

AP, 16 Sept 2025; NBC News, 16 Sept 2025
The public gallery

Not recorded

The reporting used here describes the supporters outside the courthouse and not the benches inside. His state hearings have drawn queues for seats, so these were probably not empty.

NBC News, 6 Feb 2026
The public gallery

Not recorded

A minute entry lists the lawyers and says nothing about who watched. His hearings in the state court have drawn queues of supporters and a full press bench, and the same kind of crowd is likely here.
The public gallery

Not in use

Nothing was heard in court on this date. These benches are where the public and the press sit when there is.
The witness stand

Empty: no witnesses

Nobody gave evidence at this hearing. It was argument, scheduling or a plea.
The witness stand

Not in use

Where a witness sits to give evidence under oath. In these two cases it has been used for the police officers who arrested him: for days in the state court from 1 December 2025, and once in the federal court on 23 January 2026.
The bench

Empty: no case yet

Where the judge sits, raised above the rest of the room. On this date the case had not reached a court.
The witness stand

Empty: no case yet

Where a witness sits to give evidence under oath, beside the judge and facing the lawyers. On this date the case had not reached a court.
The jury box

Empty: no case yet

Where the jurors sit, along the wall nearest the side that has to prove its case. On this date the case had not reached a court.
The prosecution table

Empty: no case yet

Where the side that brings the case sits with its lawyers. It is always drawn on the left here. On this date the case had not reached a court.
The defence table

Empty: no case yet

Where the side that answers the case sits with its lawyers. On this date the case had not reached a court.
The public gallery

Empty: no case yet

Benches behind the bar for the public and the press. Courts sit in the open, so anyone may take a seat. On this date the case had not reached a court.
The court reporter

Empty: no case yet

Where the reporter sits to take down every word of a hearing. On this date the case had not reached a court.
The court reporter

Not recorded

A reporter takes down every hearing. The sources used for this one do not mention the reporter, so the seat is drawn empty.
The court reporter

Not in use

A reporter sits here at every hearing and takes down every word. Nothing was heard on this date.

Days in court

19 Dec 2024 Federal court, before Magistrate Judge Katharine H. Parker. His first appearance, on the day he was brought to New York. Minute entry, 19 Dec 2024
25 Apr 2025 Federal court, before Judge Garnett. Arraignment on the four-count indictment. Minute entry, 25 Apr 2025
16 Sept 2025 State court, before Justice Carro. He was brought in handcuffed and shackled, in tan jail clothes, and the written decision was released while he was in the room. AP, 16 Sept 2025
1 Dec 2025 State court, before Justice Carro. A suppression hearing in Part 32 that ran for days of testimony about the arrest. WABC, 11 Dec 2025; WABC, 12 Dec 2025
9 Jan 2026 Federal court, before Judge Garnett. Argument on the motion to dismiss Counts Three and Four. Minute entry, 9 Jan 2026
23 Jan 2026 Federal court, before Judge Garnett. A suppression hearing. Evidence was entered and testimony taken. Minute entry, 23 Jan 2026
30 Jan 2026 Federal court, before Judge Garnett. A status conference, on the morning the two opinions came out. Minute entry, 30 Jan 2026
6 Feb 2026 State court, before Justice Carro. The hearing at which the state trial was set for 8 June. More than twenty supporters stood outside the courthouse. NBC News, 6 Feb 2026
1 Apr 2026 Federal court, before Judge Garnett. A status conference. The state court’s adjournment the same day is a separate step. Minute entry, 1 Apr 2026
18 May 2026 State court, before Justice Carro. The ruling came during a run of pre-trial hearings. The reporting used here does not say who was in the room, so nobody is drawn as present. Gray Media, 18 May 2026
29 Jun 2026 Federal court, before Judge Garnett. A status conference, at which the federal trial was put back to January 2027. Minute entry, 29 Jun 2026
14 Aug 2026 Federal court, before Judge Garnett. The change of plea. Minute entry, 14 Aug 2026

Back to the case

Terms

Plain English

Words this page uses because the courts use them. Nothing here is special to this case.

The paperwork

Docket: The court’s numbered list of everything filed in a case. Entry 42 is the forty-second thing filed.
ECF No.: How a federal filing is cited: its docket number. A number after a dash, like 59-2, is an attachment to it — usually an exhibit.
Indictment: The document a grand jury returns to start a felony prosecution. It lists the charges and nothing else; it is not evidence of anything.
Count: One charged offence. An indictment with eleven counts charges eleven separate offences, and a jury answers for each one separately.
Grand jury: A panel that hears the prosecution’s evidence in secret and decides whether there is enough to charge. It does not decide guilt.
Transcript: The word-for-word record of a hearing. Cited by page and line, so 12:7 means page 12, line 7.
Under seal: Filed with the court but kept off the public record. Both sides and the judge can read it; nobody else can.

How a case moves

Arraignment: The hearing where a defendant is formally told the charges and enters a plea to them.
Motion: A formal request that the court do something. The other side files an opposition or response; the moving side may then reply.
Suppression: Keeping evidence out of a trial because of how it was obtained. The evidence may be entirely genuine; the question is only whether the police were entitled to get it that way.
Inventory search: A search of a detained person’s property to log what is in it, done to a standard procedure rather than to look for evidence. Lawful without a warrant, which is why the procedure itself gets litigated.
Miranda warnings: The caution police must give before questioning someone in custody. Answers given before it are generally inadmissible; answers to routine booking or safety questions generally are not affected.
Voir dire: The questioning of prospective jurors before a trial, to decide who sits on it.
Interlocutory appeal: An appeal taken in the middle of a case, before final judgment, usually only where a statute allows it.
Presentence report: An investigation by the probation office, ordered after conviction, that the judge reads before sentencing.
Learned counsel: A lawyer experienced in death penalty cases, appointed at public expense whenever a federal case is capital. Required by statute, not discretionary — so the appointment arriving and being withdrawn marks when a case was and was not capital.
Primary jurisdiction: Which of two governments holding claims on the same defendant gets to deal with him first. It usually follows who arrested him.
Rule 600: Pennsylvania’s speedy-trial rule. It normally requires trial within a year of the complaint, but time a defendant is unavailable does not count against it.

Pleas

Open plea: A guilty plea entered with no agreement from the prosecution — no charge concessions, no sentencing recommendation. The defendant gives up the trial and keeps none of the usual consideration for it.
Plea agreement: The usual arrangement: a plea in exchange for something, normally dropped charges or a position on sentence. There was none here.

The tests in this case

Double jeopardy: The bar on being prosecuted twice for the same offence. New York’s statutory version is broader than the Fifth Amendment’s and reaches across sovereigns.
Dual sovereignty: The doctrine that a state and the federal government are separate sovereigns, so a prosecution by each for the same conduct is not the same offence under the Fifth Amendment.
Criminal transaction: Conduct closely connected enough in time and purpose to count as one episode. New York’s double jeopardy statute works on transactions, not just on single acts — which is why the date on a count matters.
Crime of violence: For these statutes, a felony that has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person or property of another.
Predicate offence: An offence that another, more serious charge is built on top of. If the predicate fails as a matter of law, the charge built on it fails with it.
Categorical approach: A method that ignores what the defendant actually did and asks only whether the offence, as written, always requires force — judged by the least serious conduct the statute could cover.
Legally insufficient: The evidence put before the grand jury, taken at its best, could not establish an element of the charge. The count goes without any finding about whether the defendant did it.
Armed felony: A New York classification attaching to certain offences committed with a loaded weapon. It restricts what sentence and what plea are available.