By Nicki Brown, Kara Scannell

New York (CNN) — Luigi Mangione, the 27-year-old accused of killing a health insurance company executive in a brazen attack that sparked a national debate, is appearing in court Monday as his attorneys seek to have his diary entries and other key evidence tossed from his state murder case.

He entered the courtroom through a side door Monday morning with his hands shackled, wearing a dark gray suit jacket and a white checkered button-down shirt. A court officer unshackled his hands as he reached the defense table.

Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania following a days-long manhunt after United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, 50, was fatally shot December 4, 2024, on a busy sidewalk in midtown Manhattan.

During the arrest, law enforcement recovered several pieces of evidence from Mangione’s backpack that authorities say tie him to the killing. Mangione’s lawyers argue police illegally searched his bag without a warrant, so that evidence should be barred from the state’s case. Prosecutors denied the defense’s claims and agreed to a hearing on the matter.

Mangione’s defense is battling prosecutors in two cases: Lawyers in his federal death penalty case also are trying to get much of the same evidence tossed. That case returns to court on January 9.

The hearing over the disputed evidence in the state case is expected to last several days, with both parties planning to call witnesses to testify, according to court documents.

In Monday’s hearing, prosecutors showed the full surveillance video of Thompson being shot in front of a hotel, stumbling to the side before falling to the ground. They also played surveillance video inside the McDonald’s as two officers first approached Mangione, with at least six more members of law enforcement later joining them in the restaurant.

As the videos played, Mangione appeared to watch them from the defense table, one finger resting on his chin.

The prosecution also played a 911 call made by the manager of the McDonald’s.

“I have a customer here that some other customers were suspicious of and he looks like the CEO shooter from New York,” the manager is heard saying. “So they’re really upset, and they’ve come to me.”

The caller stated the man was wearing a black jacket, medical mask and a tan beanie.

“The only thing you can see is his eyebrows,” she said.

Mangione showed no visible signs of resistance in the surveillance video, which did not include audio. Next to him is a backpack where police say they found writings they have described as a “manifesto” for the shooting.

At one point, defense attorney Karen Friedman-Agnifilo asked an NYPD officer if anyone received the $10,000 CrimeStoppers reward in the investigation, but Judge Gregory Carro sustained an objection from prosecutors.

In earlier court filings, Friedman-Agnifilo asked Carro to prevent the prosecution from showing the contents of Mangione’s writings at the hearing, saying they could taint the jury pool. She objected to the prosecution’s use of the term “manifesto,” calling it a “prejudicial, invented law-enforcement label.”

She also asked the judge to allow at least one of Mangione’s hands to be unshackled during the hearing so he can take notes.

In September, Carro dismissed the top two charges against Mangione – murder in the first degree in furtherance of an act of terrorism and murder in the second degree as a crime of terrorism – after he found the evidence had not established Mangione committed a terroristic act. Mangione still faces nine charges in the state case, and the separate federal death penalty prosecution. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Key pieces of evidence seized

During Mangione’s arrest last December, authorities seized several items from his backpack, including a handgun, a loaded magazine, and a notebook with handwritten entries – key pieces of evidence that prosecutors allege connect Mangione to the killing.

The recovered gun lines up with ballistic evidence from the Manhattan crime scene, prosecutors said in court documents. Authorities have called the writings in the notebook a “manifesto,” pointing to sections that detail his frustration with the healthcare industry and his intent to carry out an attack. Prosecutors said the entries “establish his responsibility for this vicious crime.”

In a court filing, Friedman-Agnifilo argued the writings and all the items recovered from the backpack should not be admissible since police illegally searched the bag without a warrant, and there was no immediate threat to justify a warrantless search.

“Police conducted this warrantless search even though there were no exigent circumstances as Mr. Mangione was already in handcuffs, the backpack was on a table over six feet away and Mr. Mangione was separated from this table by a wall of armed officers,” she wrote.

Police did not seek a search warrant for the bag until later that evening, about seven hours after they first opened the backpack, the defense attorney wrote in her filing.

Prosecutors can overcome the challenge if they can prove the evidence would have inevitably been discovered legally during the course of the investigation.

Even if the judge rules in favor of Mangione, prosecutors still have evidence of his DNA or fingerprints on several items discarded by the shooter near the crime scene, according to court documents.

Friedman-Agnifilo also moved to suppress any statements Mangione made to law enforcement before his December 19 extradition to New York, claiming officers did not properly advise Mangione of his Miranda rights before they began questioning him in the McDonald’s.

At the fast-food restaurant, Mangione allegedly gave police a fake ID bearing the name “Mark Rosario,” but later told them that was not his real name. The same driver’s license was used to book a room at the New York City hostel that was tied to the suspect, prosecutors said in court documents.

Mangione was read his Miranda warnings about 20 minutes after he was first approached by the officers, according to his attorney. After that, he exercised his right to remain silent.

The-CNN-Wire
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