Luigi Mangione, the accused UnitedHealthcare CEO killer who sparked a multi-state manhunt after allegedly gunning down the executive in Midtown Manhattan, was never read his Miranda rights when he was apprehended in Pennsylvania, his attorneys claimed in a bombshell court filing Saturday.
According to his lawyers, cops in Altoona, Pa., also went through Mangione’s backpack without a warrant after he was tracked down to a McDonald’s days after the Dec. 4 killing.
The gun Mangione allegedly used, as well as some ammunition, were found in that backpack, officials said.
The latest claims were brought forth as attorneys for Mangione, 27, asked a Manhattan federal judge to dismiss the evidence found in the backpack, in addition to any statements he made to police after he was taken into custody.
The court filing also requests that the judge remove several charges against their client, including the federal murder charge that could lead to the death penalty.
Police said the Ivy League computer science grad fatally shot Brian Thompson outside the Hilton Hotel in Midtown in the early morning hours as the health executive arrived for an annual investors conference.
The killing, which authorities claim Mangione had been planning for months, set off a multi-state search after the shooter slipped away from the scene and rode a bike to Central Park, before taking a taxi to a bus depot that offers service to several nearby states.
Five days later, a tip from an employee at a McDonald’s about 230 miles west of New York led police to arrest Mangione. He has been held without bail ever since.
In his state and federal cases, prosecutors allege Mangione’s motive was made clear by markings on shell casings recovered at the scene, which read “deny,” “delay,” and “defend” — an apparent reference to the healthcare industry routinely denying claims to boost its bottom line.
Prosecutors also cited Mangione’s writings in the weeks and months before the killing, which authorities have described as a manifesto. One page outlined a plan to “wack the CEO at the annual parasitic bean-counter convention,” they allege.
In Saturday’s court filing, Mangione’s attorneys cite body-worn camera footage as evidence that the murder suspect was never read his rights before he was questioned in Altoona and that a search warrant wasn’t requested before cops opened his backpack.
Attorneys also said the death penalty charge should be dismissed from the feds’ murder case against Mangione because they’ve failed to identify the offenses required to convict him.
An underlying charge of stalking, which the feds claim shows premeditation, is not a crime of violence and shouldn’t be used to bolster the death penalty charge, his attorneys claim.
Mangione’s lawyers also want the firearms charge — a building block in the feds’ death penalty case — to be removed because it’s not, on its face, a “crime of violence.”
A federal judge is expected to respond to the dismissal request in the coming weeks.
Last month, a Manhattan judge dismissed terrorism offenses against Mangione, finding that prosecutors presented “legally insufficient” evidence.
The ruling was a significant win for Mangione, who no longer faces a potential sentence of life without the possibility of parole on charges of first- and second-degree murder in furtherance of terrorism.
After the terrorism charges were dismissed, Mangione’s lawyers asked that the death penalty be taken off the table as a result of public comments by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.
In April, Bondi directed prosecutors in New York to seek the death penalty, calling the killing of Thompson a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.”
Mangione’s attorneys also said authorities prejudiced their client’s case by turning his arrest into a “Marvel movie” spectacle — including a moment when they paraded the suspect down a Manhattan pier under armed guard.
These actions, attorneys claim, “have violated Mr. Mangione’s constitutional and statutory rights and have fatally prejudiced this death penalty case,” his lawyers argued in a court filing last month.
Mangione is still facing a second-degree murder count unrelated to terrorism allegations and lower-level offenses.
Last month’s ruling also had no bearing on his separate federal case in which the Justice Department is still seeking the death penalty.
With News Wire Services