Both the prosecution and defense secured victories during a key evidence hearing on Monday in Luigi Mangione’s state murder trial.
Mangione, 28, has been accused of gunning down UnitedHealth Care CEO Brian Thompson on Dec. 4, 2024, as he walked his company’s annual investor conference at the New York Hilton Midtown.
New York State Judge Gregory Carro ruled that a gun, silencer, USB drive, and notebook can be used as evidence in the trial. The items had been recovered from Mangione’s backpack during a later search at the police station after he was arrested.
Carro determined that such inventory searches are an exception to the U.S. Constitution’s protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. Police had obtained a search warrant hours later.
Prosecutors said the 3D-printed pistol matches the one used to kill Thompson and that the notebook was a “manifesto” that describes Magnione’s desire to target an executive over the greed of health insurance companies.
Carro also ruled, however, that the items pulled from Mangione’s backpack during the initial police stop in Altoona, before his arrest, cannot be used as evidence in the trial.
The judge sided with the defense’s argument that the search of his backpack was illegal.
“I find that the search of the backpack at the McDonald’s was an improper warrantless search,” the judge stated.
As a result, several items were suppressed and will be excluded from the trial, including a loaded magazine, cellphone, passport, wallet, and computer chip.
Even though the defense succeeded in efforts to exclude some evidence, prosecutors said they still have substantial evidence, including surveillance video, DNA, fingerprints, and other recovered items.
The judge also denied Mangione’s request to suppress statements he made to law enforcement after his arrest.
Mangione’s state murder trial is set to begin on Sept. 8 and could take up to six weeks. Opening statements in his federal trial have been set for Nov. 4.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty in both cases. He faces the possibility of life in prison if he is convicted in either case.