Motion Filed to Suppress Evidence and Dismiss Case Against Accused UnitedHealthcare CEO Assassin
Luigi Mangione, the man accused of assassinating UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, is seeking to have evidence suppressed and the case against him dismissed entirely. His attorney, Karen Friedman Angifilo, filed a motion in the New York Supreme Court on Thursday arguing that statements Mangione made to police before his arrest, as well as evidence seized from his backpack, should be excluded from trial. The motion also challenges the admissibility of certain identification testimony and calls for the dismissal of terrorism charges against Mangione, arguing that the concurrent state and federal prosecutions violate his Fifth Amendment rights against double jeopardy.
The defense motion centers on two key arguments regarding the circumstances surrounding Mangione’s arrest in Altoona, Pennsylvania. First, Angifilo contends that statements her client made to Altoona police officers at a McDonald’s restaurant should be deemed inadmissible because Mangione was effectively in custody at the time, but had not yet been read his Miranda rights. According to the motion, two officers located Mangione inside the McDonald’s and allegedly blocked the exit to the restaurant while questioning him. The defense argues that this constituted a custodial interrogation, triggering the requirement that Mangione be informed of his right to remain silent and his right to an attorney. Since the officers allegedly failed to provide these warnings before questioning him, any statements Mangione made during that encounter should be suppressed.
Second, the motion challenges the warrantless search of Mangione’s backpack at the scene of his arrest. Angifilo argues that police officers violated her client’s Fourth Amendment rights by searching the bag without obtaining a warrant. The motion states that the officers continued their search of Mangione’s backpack even after he was removed from the restaurant and taken to the police precinct. The items found inside the backpack, which Mangione’s defense seeks to suppress, include the handgun allegedly used in the shooting, a silencer, a loaded gun magazine, a red notebook containing Mangione’s personal writings, additional writings, a computer chip, an iPhone, and several USB flash drives. The defense maintains that all of this evidence was obtained illegally and should be excluded from trial.
In addition to challenging the admissibility of statements and physical evidence, the defense motion also seeks to ban the state from eliciting lay non-eyewitness identification testimony at trial. Prosecutors intend to call NYPD Detective Oscar Diaz and Altoona police officers Joseph Detwiler and Tyler Frye to identify Mangione in surveillance footage based on their familiarity with the defendant. However, the defense argues that these witnesses are not eyewitnesses to the crime and had no interactions with Mangione prior to viewing the surveillance footage. Therefore, they lack sufficient familiarity with Mangione to reliably identify him in the videos.
Furthermore, the defense motion asks the court to dismiss the terrorism charges against Mangione. The indictment includes terrorism-related counts, but the defense argues that the grand jury failed to establish the required element that Mangione intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, influence government policies through intimidation or coercion, or affect government conduct through murder, assassination, or kidnapping. According to the defense, the evidence presented to the grand jury does not support the conclusion that Mangione’s alleged actions were intended to achieve any of these objectives.
Finally, Friedman Angifilo argues that the entire case against her client should be dismissed because trying him at both the state and federal levels concurrently constitutes double jeopardy, violating Mangione’s Fifth Amendment rights. Mangione has been indicted in the Southern District of New York on federal charges of stalking and murdering Thompson, as well as using electronic communications, interstate travel, and a firearm in connection with the alleged crime. The defense argues that prosecuting Mangione for the same underlying conduct in both state and federal court violates the constitutional prohibition against double jeopardy.
"This Court is all that stands between justice and Mr. Mangione being forced to stand trial against illegally obtained evidence, terrorism-related charges that have no application to the alleged shooting of one man and concurrent prosecutions that violate the Double Jeopardy Clause and his constitutional rights," the motion concludes.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has stated that they will respond to the motion in court filings of their own.
Mangione, 26, is accused of ambushing Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel where UnitedHealthcare’s annual shareholder conference was being held on December 4, 2024. Prosecutors believe the fatal shooting was intended to send a message to the healthcare insurance industry, based on a manifesto allegedly found on Mangione when he was arrested days after Thompson’s murder. He would face the death penalty if convicted on the federal charges.
The federal charges against Mangione include one count of using a firearm to commit murder, one count of interstate stalking resulting in death, one count of stalking through use of interstate facilities resulting in death, and one count of discharging a firearm equipped with a silencer in furtherance of a crime of violence. The outcome of the defense’s motion to suppress evidence and dismiss the case could have a significant impact on both the state and federal prosecutions of Luigi Mangione.
