Luigi Mangione watched stoically in court docket Monday as prosecutors performed surveillance movies displaying the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a New York Metropolis sidewalk final yr and Mangione’s arrest 5 days later at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania.
The movies, together with footage from the restaurant beforehand unseen by the press or the general public, kicked off a listening to on Mangione’s combat to bar proof from his state homicide trial, together with the gun prosecutors say matches the one used within the Dec. 4, 2024, assault.
Mangione, 27, pressed a finger to his lips and a thumb to his chin as he watched footage of two law enforcement officials approaching him as he ate breakfast on the McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of Manhattan.
He gripped a pen in his proper hand, making a fist at occasions, as prosecutors performed a 911 name from a McDonald’s supervisor relaying issues from prospects that Mangione regarded just like the suspect in Thompson’s killing. The supervisor mentioned she searched on-line for photographs of the suspect and that as Mangione sat within the restaurant, she may solely see his eyebrows as a result of he was carrying a beanie and a medical face masks.
Among the many proof Mangione’s protection crew needs excluded are the 9 mm handgun and a pocket book during which prosecutors say he described his intent to “wack” a medical insurance govt. Each had been present in a backpack Mangione had with him when he was arrested.
Protection needs to bar gun and pocket book
After getting state terrorism costs thrown out in September, Mangione’s attorneys are zeroing in on what they are saying was unconstitutional police conduct that threatens his proper to a good trial.
They contend that the Manhattan district legal professional’s workplace ought to be prevented from displaying the gun, pocket book and different objects to jurors as a result of police didn’t have a warrant to look the backpack.
Additionally they need to suppress a few of Mangione’s statements to police, comparable to when he allegedly gave his title as Mark Rosario, as a result of officers began asking questions earlier than telling him he had a proper to stay silent. Prosecutors say Mangione gave the identical title when he checked right into a Manhattan hostel days earlier than the killing.
Luigi Mangione is accused of fatally taking pictures Brian Thompson (inset), CEO of UnitedHealthcare. (Obtained by Each day Information; AP)
Eliminating the gun and pocket book could be crucial wins for Mangione’s protection and a significant setback for prosecutors, depriving them a doable homicide weapon and proof they are saying factors to motive. Prosecutors have quoted extensively from Mangione’s writings in court docket filings, together with his reward for the late Theodore Kaczynski, the convicted assassin referred to as the “Unabomber.”
Amongst different issues, prosecutors say, Mangione mused in his diary about rebelling towards “the deadly, greed fueled health insurance cartel” and wrote that killing an trade govt “conveys a greedy bastard that had it coming.”
An officer looking out the backpack discovered with Mangione was heard in physique digicam footage saying she was checking to verify there “wasn’t a bomb” within the bag.
His attorneys argue that was an excuse “designed to cover up an illegal warrantless search of the backpack.”
Pivotal pretrial listening to may final greater than per week
Courtroom officers say the hearings may final greater than per week, which means they might lengthen by way of Thursday’s anniversary of the killing. Protection lawyer Marc Agnifilo instructed a choose in an unrelated matter final week that Manhattan prosecutors had indicated they might name greater than two dozen witnesses.
Mangione was allowed to put on regular clothes to the hearings as a substitute of a jail uniform. He entered the courtroom Monday in a grey go well with and a button-down shirt with a checkered or tattersall sample. Courtroom officers eliminated his handcuffs to permit him to take notes.
Luigi Mangione, heart, seems in court docket for an proof listening to, Monday, Dec. 1, 2025, in New York. (Steven Hirsch/New York Put up through AP, Pool)
Bernard Pyles, an set up supervisor who helped keep the surveillance digicam system on the McDonald’s, additionally testified Monday. He downloaded video clips for police after Mangione’s arrest.
A number of dozen Mangione supporters watched the listening to from the again of the courtroom. One wore a inexperienced T-shirt that mentioned: “Without a warrant, it’s not a search, it’s a violation.” One other girl held a doll of the Luigi online game character and had a smaller figurine of him clipped to her purse.
Mangione can be dealing with a federal demise penalty case
Mangione, the Ivy League-educated scion of a rich Maryland household, has pleaded not responsible to state and federal homicide costs.
The state costs carry the potential for life in jail, whereas federal prosecutors are looking for the demise penalty. Neither trial has been scheduled but.
Mangione’s attorneys need to bar proof from each instances, however this week’s hearings pertain solely to the state case. The following listening to within the federal case is scheduled for Jan. 9.
Thompson was killed as he walked to a Manhattan resort for his firm’s annual investor convention.
Folks enter the courtroom earlier than a listening to for Luigi Mangione in Manhattan Prison Courtroom on Dec. 1, 2025 in New York Metropolis. (Picture by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Photographs)
Surveillance video confirmed a masked gunman taking pictures him from behind. Police say “delay,” “deny” and “depose” had been written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to explain how insurers keep away from paying claims.
Federal prosecutors, combating the protection’s push to exclude the gun, pocket book and different proof from their case, have mentioned in court docket filings that police had been justified in looking out the backpack to verify there have been no harmful objects, and that his statements to officers had been voluntary and had been made earlier than he was underneath arrest.
