Luigi Mangione appears unshackled in court | US | News
Luigi Mangione, 27, appeared in a Manhattan courtroom for a preliminary hearing Monday, almost a year after the high-profile murder for which he is charged with killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, 50. The charges followed a five-day, nationwide manhunt that culminated in Mangione’s arrest at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
The defense team objected at a pre-trial hearing to dismiss what prosecutors say was improperly obtained evidence that the wealthy Ivy League-educated defendant tied to the targeted killing of a health insurance executive.
According to court records, Mangione’s defense attorney requested that the handcuffs be removed and he be allowed to change into civilian clothes after he was forced to wear overalls and have his ankles shackled in past hearings. He wore a gray suit jacket with plaid button-downs on Monday as fans packed courtroom benches and protested outside the Manhattan courthouse as temperatures dipped below 40 degrees.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state and federal murder charges that threatened to put the young man behind bars for life, or worse, sentence him to the death penalty. This came after his legal team managed to dismiss state terrorism charges brought against him by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in September.
The date of the state murder trial has not yet been scheduled.
disputed evidence
Mangione’s defense team argues that the investigation was conducted unconstitutionally, jeopardizing his detention and his right to a fair trial. The case received global attention due to the fact that several documentaries had already been produced that the defense team believed violated Mangione’s rights.
The evidence they want to reject includes a 9mm handgun that prosecutors claim matches the one used in the murder and a notebook that allegedly contains the suspect’s manifesto suggesting the crime was pre-planned.
The defense argues that this evidence should be rejected because they believe the police did not have a search warrant to search the backpack containing these items. They also intend to disregard Mangione’s initial statements to police before he was read his Miranda Rights.
infamous murder
Achieving these victories would be a significant achievement for the defense team and a major coup for the prosecution; In this case, the prosecution will not have a murder weapon or evidence to link Mangione, who was born to a prominent Maryland family, to the murder.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office cited Mangione’s allegedly handwritten diary in court documents, including about his alleged admiration for Unabomber Ted Kaczynski.
Prosecutors allege that Mangione considered rebelling against a “deadly, greed-fueled health insurance cartel” and that killing an industry executive “was a greedy bitch that caused this to happen.”
Timeline for justice
Mangione’s legal team is trying to exclude evidence in both cases, but this week’s hearings are related only to the state case. The next hearing in the federal case is scheduled for January 9.
Court officials estimate the hearings, which begin Monday, will last more than a week and that Mangione will likely be arraigned on the anniversary of Thompson’s death.
Since his arrest, Mangione has been detained at the infamous Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, sharing a room with VIPs like Sean “P Diddy” Combs.
