The judge overseeing the New York state murder trial of Luigi Mangione, the man accused of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, ruled Monday that prosecutors can use as evidence a gun and a notebook previously described as a “manifesto.”
State Judge Gregory Carro’s ruling effectively rejected the defense team’s argument that those items were seized illegally, delivering a partial victory to prosecutors.
However, Carro said prosecutors cannot admit other items found during an initial search of Mangione’s backpack when he was arrested at a McDonald’s restaurant in Pennsylvania two years ago, including a loaded magazine, a cellphone, a passport, a wallet and a computer chip.
Carro said the arresting officers conducted an “improper warrantless search” at the McDonald’s, highlighting that it happened in view of the public and the restaurant’s employees.
But the judge said a subsequent search of Mangione’s backpack at the Altoona police headquarters was “valid,” denying the defense team’s bid to suppress the silencer and notebook recovered at the station.
Carro said Mangione’s statements to officers made before he received his Miranda warnings, including why he allegedly lied about his name and whether he had a fraudulent ID, will not be allowed at trial.
“The officers positioned themselves in a manner that effectively encircled the defendant and controlled the immediate area, creating a police-dominated atmosphere,” the judge wrote. “Their presence and positioning significantly restricted the defendant’s freedom of movement and foreclosed any avenue of departure.”
However, Carro said that Mangione’s “spontaneous” remarks to Pennsylvania correctional officers, who were monitoring him while he was held at a correctional facility, are admissible.
Those statements included Mangione speaking about being arrested at McDonald’s with a backpack containing a 3D-printed pistol and a magazine, as well as conversations about private vs. public health care systems.
Mangione’s arrest came five days after Thompson, a 50-year-old father of two, was shot dead outside a Manhattan hotel as he walked to an investors’ conference. The daytime killing set off a frantic manhunt across the Northeast.
Police officers were eventually called to the McDonald’s restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, where Mangione was spotted eating breakfast. Altoona is roughly 280 miles west of Manhattan.
Mangione’s lawyers have argued that some of the evidence was obtained through unconstitutional searches and questioning during that encounter, while prosecutors insist it was lawfully collected.
The 28-year-old defendant has pleaded not guilty to nine state felony charges, including second-degree murder and various counts related to his possession of a weapon.
“This type of premeditated, targeted gun violence cannot and will not be tolerated, and my office has been working day in and day out to bring the defendant to justice,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in December 2024.
The state charges come with the possibility of life in prison. (New York does not have the death penalty after its capital punishment statute was ruled unconstitutional in 2004.)
Mangione has also pleaded not guilty in a separate federal case charging him with two counts of stalking, each carrying a maximum sentence of life without parole.
In both cases, prosecutors may highlight evidence found at the scene of Thompson’s killing. Authorities have said they recovered shell casings with the words “delay,” “deny” and “depose” written on them — terms associated with the practices of the for-profit healthcare industry.
The state trial in Manhattan Criminal Court is tentatively scheduled to begin in September, followed by a federal trial sometime later in the fall. Mangione has been detained at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since December 2024.
