By Jack Queen
NEW YORK, May 18 (Reuters) – A state court judge on Monday granted Luigi Mangione’s bid to prevent evidence found in his backpack during his arrest from being admitted at his murder trial over the early-morning assassination of a health insurance executive in Manhattan.
Mangione, 28, is accused of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a Midtown sidewalk in December 2024. Public officials condemned the brazen killing, but it became emblematic of some Americans’ antipathy for health insurance industry practices and rising costs.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty in state court to all charges. His trial is set to begin on September 8 and is expected to last six weeks.
Justice Gregory Carro of a New York state court in Manhattan granted Mangione’s request to suppress evidence found in his backpack during his arrest in Pennsylvania, ruling police unlawfully searched the bag without a warrant.
Carro announced his decision during a hearing with Mangione present.
Mangione’s lawyers argued the alleged contents of his backpack and statements to law enforcement during his arrest in Pennsylvania should be inadmissible because he was illegally searched and not given notice of his legal rights.
Prosecutors with the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg deny claims that Mangione was illegally searched and questioned.
In court filings, prosecutors have said they have a wealth of evidence linking Mangione to the killing, including DNA, fingerprints, a cell phone and another backpack that he allegedly dropped during his flight from New York.
Thompson, who led UnitedHealth Group’s health insurance business, was shot and killed on December 4, 2024 outside the Hilton hotel where he was staying for an investors’ meeting.
Mangione was arrested in Pennsylvania after a five-day manhunt and has been jailed ever since.
State prosecutors initially charged Mangione with terrorism, but Carro threw out that charge after finding there was not enough evidence to show Mangione’s alleged actions were aimed at influencing public policy.
Federal prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York separately brought murder, weapons and stalking charges against Mangione.
The judge overseeing that case threw out the murder and weapons charges on a legal technicality in January. That eliminated the possibility of the death penalty, but Mangione could face life in prison if he is convicted of stalking.
(Reporting by Jack Queen in New York; Editing by William Mallard and Chizu Nomiyama)
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