Luigi Mangione, the man charged with murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, is in court Monday for pretrial hearings about which evidence will be allowed in his upcoming trial in New York City.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to nine state charges, including murder, as well as other federal charges that carry the possibility of the death penalty. Back in September, a judge dropped two other state terrorism charges against him.
The 27-year-old’s defense attorneys are arguing that certain evidence should be excluded from trial because of how they say it was obtained.
Prosecutors with the Manhattan’s district attorney’s office have denied the defense’s accusations, but the judge called for a series of suppression hearings to go over the concerns.
The hearings are expected to last several days, and possibly all week. His trial date has not yet been set.
A look inside the courtroom
Yuki Iwamura / POOL /AFP via Getty Images
Mangione walked into court wearing a gray suit with a patterned button down shirt. He appeared to lift his eyebrows to acknowledge the court officers and his attorneys, but he did not look at the gallery. Per his attorneys’ request, his restraints were removed before he sat down, so he can take notes.
His attorneys had also requested he be allowed to wear civilian clothing during these hearings, rather than the tan prison clothing from his last court appearance. The judge granted him two suits, three shirts, three sweaters, three pairs of pants, five pairs of socks and one pair of shoes without laces that can be worn while he is being transported from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
Inside the courtroom, there appear to be roughly eight rows of journalists and three rows of the public, including some wearing shirts with Mangione’s name or photo and the color green.
Outside the courtroom, some people camped out to try and get a spot inside.
The hearing was expected to begin around 10 a.m. but got off to a late start around 11 a.m.
Mangione smiled as he chatted with his attorneys before the hearing began and took notes throughout.
NYPD 
First look at Pennsylvania McDonald’s surveillance video
The first witness called to the stand was NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Public Information Sgt. Chris McLaughlin, who was asked to review surveillance images obtained in the hours and days after the shooting, including what appears to be a photo of Mangione standing at the counter of a Starbucks wearing a gray backpack and facemask with his nose showing, two photos of him inside an Upper West Side hostel without a facemask, and a Facebook post showing a man on a bicycle and a man with a gun.
Mangione’s attorneys objected to the relevance of the witness. While the photos were displayed, Mangione was seen taking notes and leaning over to speak with his lawyers.
The prosecution also played video of the moment Thompson was shot nearly a year ago outside a hotel in midtown Manhattan, but stopped it before the husband and father of two fell to the ground.
The second witness called to testify worked for the company that handled the security cameras at the McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, where Mangione was taken into custody days after the shooting.
For the first time, prosecutors shared security video from a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania where Mangione was arrested. There was no audio for it. In the video, Mangione can be seen sitting and eating, and at one point speaking with officers.
A 911 coordinator from Blair County, Pennsylvania then took the stand, before court broke for lunch. A 911 call from a manager at the McDonald’s was played.
“I have a customer here that some other customers were suspicious of,” the manager said in the recording. The manager went on to explain that the customers were really upset, and thought he looked like the person police were searching for in connection with Thompson’s murder.
The surveillance video shows Managione sit down at a side dining room near the restroom at 9:01 a.m. At 9:28 a.m., two officers approach him, and he stands with his hands in the air. Employees and customers can be seen coming and going while this is happening.
At one point, Mangione is seated again and seems to be eating while speaking with officers. At around 9:40 a.m., more officers show up, and Mangione is eventually seen standing and being searched.
“Didn’t want an Epstein-style situation”
Corrections officer Thomas Rivers testified next. He works at State Correctional Institution Huntington, the facility where Mangione was held after he was arrested. Mangione was placed there due to its increased security capabilities, Rivers said. Mangione was held there under a constant watch because “SCI Huntington didn’t want an Epstein-style situation,” Rivers said, referring to the suicide of Jeffrey Epstein.
Rivers testified he spoke with Mangione during his time being held at Huntington. They spoke about Mangione’s travels in Thailand, including something Mangione said he saw – a “gang fight between lady boys.”
Rivers said that Mangione talked about people who grow up in Third World countries grew up with a level of suffering not present in the U.S., but tend to be happier.
Rivers said the two also talked about comparisons the media was making between Mangione and Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, and they discussed books by George Orwell, Aldous Huxley and Henry Thoreau.
Here’s what Mangione’s attorneys are arguing
Mangione’s defense says statements he made to law enforcement should be suppressed, because they claim officers failed to provide Miranda warnings, which is when a suspect is informed of their constitutional rights.
The defense also says evidence seized at the time of his arrest at the McDonald’s in Pennsylvania shouldn’t be allowed, because they claim law enforcement did a warrantless search of his backpack after he was handcuffed and surrounded by officers. Among the items inside the backpack were a gun with a 3D printed receiver, ammunition and a red notebook he allegedly used as his diary.
Defense attorneys don’t want the notebook entries or other writings put into evidence at these pretrial hearings, claiming they will prejudice Mangione if they are made public and potential jurors hear about it.
Lastly, the defense is also arguing against non-eyewitness identification testimony at trial, meaning someone who was not a witness to an alleged crime who makes an identification from a picture or video.
