Accused UnitedHealthcare CEO killer Luigi Mangione seeks to suppress evidence in federal case

Attorneys for accused UnitedHealthcare CEO killer Luigi Mangione have requested a hearing in Manhattan federal court on their motion to suppress evidence found in Mangione's backpack, which includes a notebook in which prosecutors said Mangione wrote of his intention to "wack" a health insurance executive.

Mangione's lawyers have argued that the notebook and other evidence found in the backpack resulted from an illegal, warrantless search and therefore should be thrown out.

Prosecutors have argued that the search was legal, conducted as part of police procedures to ensure prisoners don’t have access to contraband, including weapons. A search warrant was ultimately sought and received. Federal prosecutors also said in Tuesday's letter that a hearing on the issue is unnecessary.

Mangione, 27, an Ivy League graduate from Maryland, has pleaded not guilty to federal and state charges in connection with the Dec. 4, 2024, killing of health care executive Brian Thompson, 50, outside the Midtown Hilton Hotel in Manhattan.

The state charges carry the possibility of life in prison, while federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. 

Mangione’s lawyers want to bar evidence from both cases. A December hearing pertained only to the state case.

Prosecutors have alleged that Mangione committed the killing in protest of the high cost of American medical care. His case has become a cause célèbre in some online circles.

Mangione's defense team also dropped his bid, in his federal case, to suppress his statements to officers who arrested him in Pennsylvania in 2024 after prosecutors said they only plan to introduce evidence that Mangione gave police officers a fake name, court documents show.

"Given the government’s representation that it is only seeking to admit Mr. Mangione’s Dec. 9, 2024 statements to law enforcement providing his name as 'Mark' and 'Mark Rosario' defense counsel herby withdraws Mr. Mangione’s motion to suppress his statements," Mangione’s lawyers wrote in a Jan. 6 letter to U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Garnett.

Mangione was arrested five days after the killing at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania — apparently recognized by his prominent eyebrows. In addition to the notebook, prosecutors said police seized a 9 mm handgun that matches the one used to kill Thompson. 

Prosecutors said Mangione presented a fake New Jersey driver’s license under the name Mark Rosario when confronted by Altoona police.

Prosecutors have said Mangione shot Thompson once in the back and once in the leg using a 9 mm ghost gun with a silencer — an attack that was captured on surveillance video.
The shooter fled on a Citi Bike.

The bullet that killed Thompson entered the left side of his back and pierced his liver and heart, prosecutors have said. He died at the scene.

Last year, a state court judge dismissed two terrorism-related murder charges against Mangione, saying the evidence was legally insufficient to sustain them. 

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.