NEW YORK — A Manhattan judge on Tuesday said there would be an overflow room open to members of the press and the public at alleged CEO killer Luigi Mangione’s upcoming murder trial and that it was “reckless” of his lawyers to suggest prosecutors were secretly involved in determining who would get a seat.

Taking the bench a few minutes before 10 a.m., Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro said the defense’s recent complaints about access were premature and that conversations had been ongoing about how to permit more people to attend the closely watched proceedings.

“At no time did the district attorney’s office participate in those discussions, nor did it play any role in determining media or public access. Any suggestion that the district attorney is involved is simply incorrect,” Carro said.

The Maryland man’s lawyers last month alleged a secretive process had occurred between court administrators and DA Alvin Bragg’s office to hand-pick reporters for coverage of his trial on second-degree murder charges stemming from the December 2024 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Prosecutors are never involved in determining media or public access to proceedings when space is limited. The state Office of Court Administration oversees the process, typically negotiating with local court reporters, who, in this case, pushed the court to provide an overflow room when jury selection begins on Sept. 8.

The judge on Tuesday said allegations by Mangione’s defense suggesting a secret media selection process involving the prosecution were “a reckless mischaracterization of the ethics undertaken by this court” to ensure transparency and public access. Addressing concerns about accommodating the media, Carro quipped that Mangione’s case was “not the first rodeo” in the Manhattan courts.

The DA’s office took no formal position on whether the court should provide an overflow room. However, in a Monday filing, prosecutors raised concerns about the judge’s ability to observe spectator misconduct and the possibility someone would clandestinely record the proceedings.

After addressing accessibility concerns, Carro spent the remainder of the proceeding in a discussion with the defense and the prosecution at the bench, which nobody in the gallery could hear. He briefly summarized the back-and-forth before adjourning at 10:18 a.m., saying they had continued discussing jury selection and outstanding motions to be filed and decided.

Mangione, 28, who wore a gray suit over a white shirt to his final pretrial hearing, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and related charges alleging he fatally gunned down Thompson, a 50-year-old Minnesotan and father of two teen boys, outside the Hilton hotel in Midtown in an act of vengeance toward the health insurance industry. The University of Pennsylvania graduate also faces federal stalking charges, set to be tried by the Trump Justice Department in January 2027.

Amid frustration felt by many Americans over sky-high health insurance costs, the prosecution has garnered overwhelming public interest and international media attention. Mangione has received over $1 million in public donations toward his defense.

In a scene reminiscent of Donald Trump’s hush money trial, which saw a media circus descend on the lower Manhattan courts for some six weeks in the spring of 2024, the Daily News spotted a line forming for Tuesday’s hearing as early as 6 p.m. Monday, starting with two people who erected a tent across the street from the courthouse by Collect Pond Park and set up foldable chairs for their roughly 13-hour stakeout.

OCA has said there will be 68 seats reserved for reporters inside the courtroom at the trial, limited to one seat per outlet, and that additional seats on the press benches will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Sitting in the front row on Tuesday, wearing City Hall-issued press passes, were two of Mangione’s most ardent supporters, self-described “Mangionistas” Abril Rios and Ashley Rojas, who do not claim to be journalists but Mangione’s advocates. In comments to the Daily News in May, they celebrated Thompson’s killing and detailed plans to set up tables around the courthouse when the trial starts to inform people about jury nullification, which is when a jury chooses to declare a defendant “not guilty” despite finding evidence of guilt.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s office said it would reassess the city’s process and standards for press credentialing following The News’s reporting on credentials being granted to people who do not identify as press. A City Hall spokesperson at the time said that the mayor’s office had few paths to revoking press passes, outside of holding a proceeding before the city’s Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings.

The News spoke with several young people who attended Tuesday’s hearing in support of Mangione who said the Mangionistas’ previous comments did not reflect the views of all of his supporters.

A healthcare worker wearing scrubs who asked to be referred to as Melanie, 26, said the case raised interesting themes, but she couldn’t stand by comments celebrating death.

“They’re not helping; they claim to, like, want to help Luigi, and they’re not helping,” Melanie said. “I don’t condone violence, but the fact that this has sparked such a conversation in the country and even worldwide, that’s a fact to be reckoned with.”

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