Luigi Mangione in NY state court this week to argue over backpack evidence

The man accused of assassinating UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Midtown hotel a year ago will be back in court this week as his lawyers ask a Manhattan judge to toss out evidence in the case.

Lawyers for Luigi Mangione argue police officers did not read Mangione his Miranda rights and did not have a proper warrant when they interrogated him and searched his backpack at a Pennsylvania McDonalds last December. Police say a gun, a notebook, and electronics recovered from the backpack tie the 27-year-old to Thompson’s shooting.

Prosecutors maintain that police did nothing wrong.

Mangione faces state and federal murder charges. He could be sentenced to life in prison if he’s convicted in the state case. Prosecutors in the federal case are seeking the death penalty. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Judge Gregory Carro could set a trial date in the coming days.

Suppression hearings are typically low-profile procedural affairs, but this week’s sessions are expected to draw huge crowds to the Lower Manhattan courthouse. Mangione has become something of a folk hero to people frustrated by the American health insurance industry and enamored by his looks. Others, including President Trump, have painted him as a cold-blooded assassin.

Legal experts say getting Carro to block certain evidence could be challenging.

Police first approached Mangione at the Altoona, Pennsylvania McDonalds following a tip from an employee there. In court documents, Mangione’s attorneys have argued that police body camera footage shows officers began questioning Mangione immediately after approaching him and did not read him his Miranda rights for about 20 minutes.

Once officers informed Mangione of his Fifth Amendment rights, “Mr. Mangione exercised his constitutional right to remain silent and expressed that he did not want to speak to law enforcement,” according to the defense motion.

Mangione’s attorneys also argue that police unlawfully searched Mangione’s backpack both at the McDonald’s and at the precinct.

Investigators say a notebook recovered from the backpack contains a passage where Mangione describes his intent to “wack” the CEO of an insurance company.

“The defense is going have an uphill battle when it comes to suppressing evidence found in the backpack,” said Jason Swergold, a former federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York.

The suppression hearings are expected to last several days and multiple police witnesses are scheduled to take the stand.

Mangione’s defense team has asked the judge to allow him to remain unshackled during the proceedings. Last week a federal judge allowed the delivery of two new suits to the Brooklyn detention center where Mangione is being held for him to wear to the suppression hearings.

Gary Galperin, a former senior prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney’s office, said a suppression hearing is an important opportunity for the defense to question key witnesses ahead of trial.

“Any testimony generated at the pre-trial hearing could be used, potentially, to impeach that witness at trial,” said Galperin, who’s now an adjunct professor at the Cardozo School of Law.

“The number one goal is of course to win the motions, but the number two goal is to discover more information,” said Anna Cominsky, a professor at New York Law School and director of its criminal defense clinic.

-The Gothamist