Accused assassin Luigi Mangione returned to court Monday for the first of three hearings in which his lawyers will ask the court to toss evidence in the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
The 27-year-old Ivy League alumnus is accused of stalking Thompson, a 50-year-old father of two, before allegedly shooting him from behind outside a Manhattan hotel before dawn.
A Pennsylvania correction officer testified that Mangione was concerned about media coverage of his case and was “disappointed” when he learned he had been compared to the “Unabomber,” Ted Kaczynski.
Thompson, who lived in Minnesota, was expected to attend a shareholder conference later on the morning of his death.
LUIGI MANGIONE ARGUES DOUBLE JEOPARDY IN BID TO DROP MURDER CASE, SUPPRESS EVIDENCE
Mangione’s lawyers are asking the court to suppress evidence collected during his arrest at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s five days after the murder. The evidence includes physical evidence from a backpack, including the suspected murder weapon and his journals, as well as statements he made to police before they read him a Miranda warning.
The first witness was NYPD Sgt. Chris McLaughlin, a member of the Deputy Commissioner for Public Information’s office, which is responsible for communications between police and the media.
Prosecutors asked McLaughlin about a series of surveillance photos and videos taken in the lead-up to the shooting and its immediate aftermath, including the image of a then-unidentified person of interest smiling at a woman at a Manhattan hostel, which led to Mangione’s arrest when witnesses saw him in Altoona and called police.
LUIGI MANGIONE PROSECUTORS FIRE BACK ON ‘EAVESDROPPING’ CLAIM
The next witness was Bernad Pyles, who works at ADI Global Distribution, a security camera company that installed the surveillance system at the Altoona McDonald’s where police arrested Mangione.
During Pyles’ testimony, a monitor showed previously unseen surveillance video from the fast food restaurant, before, during and after his arrest.
The third witness was Emily States, a 911 coordinator for the Blair County Department of Emergency Services. She testified about the 911 call placed before police arrived at McDonald’s, which was played publicly in court for the first time.
The caller, a McDonald’s manager, described a customer, later identified as Mangione, to the dispatcher, saying he was wearing a heavy jacket and a beanie pulled down low.
“I have a customer here that some other customers here say he looks like the CEO killer from New York,” the manager said, later explaining, “The only thing you can see is his eyebrows.”
BODYCAM IMAGES SHOW LUIGI MANGIONE’S MCDONALD’S ARREST
Prosecutors also played recordings from the dispatch radio with States on the stand, which illustrated the fake name and ID he allegedly gave to responding officers and some apparent confusion about his identity. When they ran his real name, they found no active warrants, according to the recordings.
Next on the stand was Thomas Rivers, a Pennsylvania Department of Corrections officer at the facility where Mangione was held for 10 days before his return to New York to face charges.
He said he was told by a superior that authorities didn’t want an “Epstein-style situation.”
According to authorities, accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein killed himself in a federal jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial. Rivers said he spoke with Mangione about overseas travel, and the accused assassin mentioned a fight with “ladyboys” in Thailand — an anecdote Mangione reportedly shared with friends over text message before his arrest.
He said Mangione asked him about media coverage of his own case and that Mangione was “disappointed” people had compared him to Kaczynski.
Rivers said they also talked about healthcare, but he could not remember specifics when asked during cross-examination.
Before leaving the stand, he told the court he was not conversing with Mangione in an attempt to learn more about the case.
A second corrections officer, Matthew Henry, took the stand next.
He testified that he spoke with Mangione while he was in custody, but it was not in response to a conversation that Henry started. He said that Mangione spoke about a backpack with a 3D-printed weapon and foreign currency. He said Mangione told him people thought he was a foreign agent because he was arrested with foreign currency —and that Mangione told him he was arrested in a McDonald’s.
Henry said he didn’t respond and was not interested in getting involved in a conversation with Mangione. He said there were conversations on at least three other days that he did not recall.
Under cross-examination from defense attorney Marc Agnifilo, Henry said Mangione “blurted out” his statement about having a 3D-printed gun.
The hearing ended after Henry’s testimony. Mangione is due back in court at 9:30 a.m. ET Tuesday.
New York:
Federal:
The hearings are expected to run for several days, with a break on Wednesday.
There are three different types of suppression hearings — Mapp, Huntley and Mosley. Two of them are expected this week: a Mapp hearing, to determine whether certain types of physical evidence should be suppressed or thrown out, and a Huntley hearing, to determine if a confession or other statements to law enforcement are admissible.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has not yet finalized its trial strategy, and a Mosley hearing, which determines if non-eyewitnesses can testify at trial, is not expected yet.
Mangione faces a slew of charges in New York, Pennsylvania and federally.
State-level terror charges were thrown out earlier this year, but Mangione still faces second-degree murder, seven counts of criminal possession of a weapon, and possession of a forged ID in New York.
He faces a maximum of life in prison in the Empire State.
If convicted on the top federal charges, he could face the death penalty.
