Luigi Mangione, CEO killing suspect, pleads not guilty to state terror and murder charges

WABC, CNN

By Alaa Elassar, Emma Tucker, Kara Scannell and Chelsea Bailey, CNN

(CNN) — Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a busy sidewalk in Midtown Manhattan, was escorted into a New York courtroom Monday where he pleaded not guilty to state murder and terror charges.

The hearing marked Mangione’s first opportunity to formally address the accusations brought by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

The 26-year-old faces 11 counts in New York, including one of murder in the first degree and two of murder in the second degree, along with other weapon and forgery charges, according to the indictment.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office confirmed to CNN it is coordinating with federal authorities for Mangione’s arraignment on the state charges.

Prosecutors said they would do everything possible to expedite the discovery process, sharing information with the defense.

“I have never seen a case with such volume of evidence, aside from the issue of the quality of the evidence,” prosecutor Joel Seidemann said during the hearing. “This is not a usual case in terms of the thousands of hours of video.”

Mangione’s attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, expressed concerns during the hearing about her client’s ability to obtain a fair trial, specifically citing Mayor Eric Adams’ presence last week among the dozens of heavily armed law enforcement officials as he was extradited to Lower Manhattan from Pennsylvania.

“He’s a young man and he’s being treated like a human pingpong ball by two warring jurisdictions here,” she said. “They’re treating him like a human spectacle.”

Judge Gregory Carro told Agnifilo her client’s trial will be fair, adding “we will carefully select a jury.” The next court date has been set for February 21.

Mangione appeared calm following the hearing as officers escorted him slowly down a long hallway in shackles. He was dressed in khakis and a maroon sweater with a white collared shirt underneath.

Members of the public – including two dozen women and six men – filled four rows of the courtroom to watch the hearing unfold. Meanwhile, outside the courthouse, protesters rallied in support of Maginone. The crowd waived posters that read “people over profit” and chanted “health care is a human right.”

Mangione has been made into something of a macabre folk hero online after Thompson’s murder exposed deep anger and resentment toward the US health care system and insurers like UnitedHealthcare.

The public was captivated by the weeklong manhunt for Thompson’s alleged killer which ended earlier this month when a customer and a worker at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s reported Mangione to the police.

A federal criminal complaint was unsealed on Thursday, in which Mangione was charged with murder through use of a firearm, two stalking charges and a firearms offense.

He could face the death penalty if found guilty of the federal murder charge, while the state charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Prosecutors have not indicated whether they will seek the death penalty, and the decision would ultimately need to be approved by the US Attorney General.

He also faces charges in Pennsylvania in connection to the 3D-printed firearm and false ID allegedly in his possession when he was arrested. Now, the state and federal trials will “work in parallel,” according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the state trial will come before his federal trial, prosecutors said.

The push for federal charges came from the US Attorney’s office, multiple law enforcement sources told CNN. Because the FBI was already involved in the investigation assisting the NYPD with out-of-town leads, FBI agents were asked to draw up the federal complaint based on evidence collected by NYPD detectives working on the state charges and police in Pennsylvania who arrested Mangione.

Federal prosecutors say they have jurisdiction in the case because Mangione’s “travel in interstate commerce” – taking a bus from Atlanta to New York prior to the killing – as well as “use of interstate facilities” by allegedly using a cell phone and the internet “to plan and carry out the stalking, shooting, and killing” of Thompson in broad daylight on a Manhattan sidewalk.

Mangione’s notebook helped federal prosecutors build their case

Mangione was arrested on December 9 at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania, managing to evade capture for days after Thompson was shot and killed in Midtown Manhattan as he walked toward the hotel hosting the company’s annual investor conference.

Police found “a black 3D-printed pistol” with a loaded Glock magazine and a “black silencer,” also 3D-printed, in his backpack, according to the criminal complaint. New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told reporters Mangione was found with a gun and a suppressor “both consistent with the weapon used in the murder,” referring to a device designed to muffle the sound of a firearm.

The gun taken from Mangione upon arrest matches three shell casings found at the crime scene and marked with “deny,” “defend” and “depose” – words similar to those used to criticize insurance industry practices – top NYPD officials said last week. Mangione’s fingerprints match those on items he was captured on surveillance video buying shortly before the homicide and found after it nearby, the police commissioner added.

Mangione was also found with fake IDs and a three-page “claim” – which indicated no specific threats but only “ill will towards corporate America,” according to the New York City Police Department’s chief detective.

Investigators believe Mangione, a former high school valedictorian and Ivy League graduate born into a well-to-do family, appeared to be driven by anger against the health insurance industry and “corporate greed,” according to a NYPD intelligence report obtained by CNN.

The intelligence report said Mangione “appeared to view the targeted killing of the company’s highest-ranking representative as a symbolic takedown.”

The killing unleashed what some observers describe as Americans’ pent-up anger and frustration with the nation’s health insurance industry.

Writings laid bare in a notebook found in Mangione’s possession, authorities said, helped investigators build the federal case against him, a well-planned homicide involving stalking the movements of his alleged victim.

An entry dated August 15, reads: “the details are finally coming together,” according to the federal complaint unsealed Thursday. “I’m glad — in a way — that I’ve procrastinated,” Mangione allegedly wrote, saying it gave him time to learn more about the company he was targeting, whose name was redacted by prosecutors.

“‘The target is insurance’ because ‘it checks every box,’” the notebook read, according to the complaint, which said the notebook also “contained several handwritten pages that express hostility toward the health insurance industry and wealthy executives in particular.”

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