By Jack Queen
NEW YORK, Dec 1 (Reuters) – Police spoke to Luigi Mangione in a McDonald’s restaurant for more than 30 minutes before arresting him for allegedly gunning down a UnitedHealthcare executive, according to videos played on Monday during state court hearings over whether prosecutors can use his police statements at his murder trial.
The videos, as well as audio of an emergency call to police by a McDonald’s worker, have not previously been played publicly.
Mangione, 27, was arrested in December 2024 and charged with fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a sidewalk in Midtown Manhattan. Public officials condemned the shocking assassination. Mangione became a folk hero to some Americans who decry steep healthcare costs.
He has pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges and is expected to face trial next year. Mangione has pleaded not guilty in a separate federal case where prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty.
DEFENSE SEEKS TO BLOCK EVIDENCE
Mangione wore a grey suit and a white shirt with a red checkered pattern and said nothing as officers removed his handcuffs at the defense table.
Mangione’s lawyers are seeking to block prosecutors from using evidence allegedly found in his backpack during his arrest and statements he made to police, arguing he was illegally searched and questioned.
Surveillance footage played on Monday shows police approaching Mangione in the McDonald’s, patting him down, and then speaking with him occasionally over the next half hour as nearly a dozen more officers trickle in.
The footage, which does not include audio, could be a key piece of evidence as Justice Gregory Carro considers defense lawyers’ claim that Mangione’s statements to police are inadmissible because they failed to advise him of his rights against self-incrimination.
The defense lawyers are also seeking to block prosecutors from presenting evidence police say was found in Mangione’s backpack, including a 3D-printed gun, a silencer, electronic devices and journal writings that appear to implicate him in the killing.
Prosecutors with the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg have opposed Mangione’s requests to suppress the evidence and denied his claims that he was illegally searched and questioned.
Several supporters of Mangione appeared outside the courthouse before the hearing, including one dressed as the villain from the video game Super Mario Bros., bearing a sign that said, “When patients die, profits rise,” and a woman with a “Free Luigi” sash.
WORKER’S EMERGENCY CALL PLAYED
The hearings could last the week and feature testimony from witnesses involved in Mangione’s arrest in Pennsylvania.
Prosecutors questioned a New York City Police Department public information officer about suspect photos he shared with the media after the shooting, as well as an employee at the McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania who called police after customers recognized Mangione from the news.
“I have a customer here that some other customers are suspicious of who looks like the CEO shooter, and they’re really upset and they’re coming to me,” the employee was heard saying in a recording of a 911 emergency call played in court.
Mangione could face life in prison if convicted of murder in the second degree, which is defined as an intentional killing. He also faces seven counts of criminal possession of a weapon and one count of possessing a false identification.
Carro dismissed two terrorism counts against Mangione in September, finding prosecutors had not presented enough evidence that Mangione intended to intimidate health insurance workers or influence government policy.
Trial dates have not been set in either the state or federal cases. Mangione has been held in federal custody in Brooklyn since his arrest.
(Reporting by Jack Queen in New York; Editing by Alistair Bell, Lisa Shumaker, Noeleen Walder and Rod Nickel)
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