Luigi Mangione Defense Team: 'Media Limits Are Unconstitutional'

Luigi Mangione's legal team has challenged the court regarding media access rules set for his murder trial, scheduled for September, arguing they violate the constitutional guarantee of a public trial. In a filing Friday, defense attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo argued that the court's refusal to utilize an available overflow courtroom amounts to a partial closure of the proceedings.

The defense team argued that limiting the number of journalists attending the trial to 68 and allowing the court and district attorney to select the attending media violates the defendant's constitutional rights, expressing concerns that the press is being 'hand-picked'.

They specifically criticized the decision to limit coverage of the jury selection process to just six reporters, adding that they were not given an opportunity to be heard regarding these rules beforehand.