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What's New
Gregory Carro has been named as the judge overseeing Luigi Mangione's trial for the alleged murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
On Thursday, Mangione's defense lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, complained in federal court that she was expecting to bring 26-year-old Mangione before Judge Carro at 3 p.m. that day. However, she learned that Mangione was being arraigned on federal murder charges the same day.
Friedman Agnifilo's spokesperson told Newsweek on Friday that she would not be commenting on the case. Newsweek also sought comment from Carro.
Why It Matters
Mangione has been charged in a New York state court with first degree murder in furtherance of terrorism, following the fatal shooting of 50-year-old father of two Thompson in Manhattan on December 4. If convicted, he could be facing life without parole and the judge overseeing the case will have a major impact on how the case will run.
How Carro handles pretrial defense requests could say a lot about how he will handle a trial. Mangione is also facing alternate charges of first degree murder; second degree murder and second degree murder in furtherance of terrorism.
What To Know
Carro has a reputation for being tough on crime and has experience with crimes that carry a terrorism enhancement.
In November, he handed down a 10-year sentence to Christopher Brown, a 23-year-old man who had threatened to attack a synagogue. He added on five years of post-release supervision.
Carro is a second-generation judge. When his father, John, came to the U.S. from Puerto Rico in 1937, he spoke no English, according to a 1998 family profile in The New York Times.
John Carro later became an attorney and had a passion for representing Latinos in human rights cases and wanted more Latinos in the legal profession.
He later became a judge and the first Puerto Rican to sit on a New York appellate bench.
Gregory was one of seven children in the family. They moved from the Bronx to a more spacious home in Rockland County as John Carro's legal career blossomed.
Gregory and three of his siblings became lawyers, another became a doctor.
Mayor Rudy Giuliani appointed Gregory Carro as a judge in 1998 on a salary of over $103,000 a year.
"He is reserved and careful where his father was outspoken and colorful," The New York Times noted at the time.
His proud father was at the swearing in ceremony, where Gregory Carro vowed to be his own man and not simply follow his father's footsteps.
Gregory Carro, who has been on the bench for more than 25 years, is known as being tough on bail. In one high profile case in 2013, he refused bail to Sylvia Mitchell, a psychic who was convicted by a jury of swindling $138,000 from her clients.
One witness, Debra Saalfield, recalled how Mitchell told her all her problems stemmed from Saalfield's past life as an Egyptian princess and that she was too attached to money, The New York Times reported at the time.
As soon as she was convicted, Carro ruled that, as Mitchell lived in Connecticut with her two teenagers, she was a flight risk from New York and should therefore be jailed until sentencing. People with a settled home in a neighboring state, with teenage children, are not generally considered a flight risk but Mitchell went to jail immediately.
Carro explained at the time that jail would help Mitchell reflect on her crimes.
When she came back to court the next month, she said she had reflected while in prison.
"I have had a lot of time to think and I realize that what I have done is wrong. I just want to be with my children, go back to school … start my life over again," she told Carro.
He jailed her for five to fifteen years, far more than the three to nine years being sought by prosecutors. It demonstrated Carro's intense dislike for defendants who prey on ordinary members of the public.
What People Are Saying
Veteran Manhattan defense attorney, Ron Kuby, told Business Insider that Carro can be harsh, but said that there would be no lenient judges in a case like Mangione's.
"Of course, in a case like this, there are no good judges," he said. "You're not going to find any members of Antifa on the bench," he said, referring to anti-fascist groups who are collectively known as Antifa.
Kuby said that, as Manhattan judges go, Carro was "harsh but not crazy."
What Happens Next
Mangione is expected to appear before Carro in the coming weeks and will likely plead not guilty to the charges, as directed by his legal team.
Carro will then allow for pretrial motions. Friedman Agnifilo has already stated in federal court that she will be seeking pretrial disclosure of any collusion between federal and New York agencies involved in the case.
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About the writer
Sean O'Driscoll is a Newsweek Senior Crime and Courts Reporter based in Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. law. ... Read more