NEW YORK (TNND) — A judge overseeing the case of suspected CEO killer Luigi Mangione is set to decide Monday whether key evidence against him can be used when his state murder trial begins in September.
New York Judge Gregory Carro is considering a request to bar prosecutors from using evidence police seized from Mangione’s backpack when he was arrested at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania five days after the shooting.
The backpack contained the alleged murder weapon and writings prosecutors say amount to a confession.
If the evidence is excluded, prosecutors would be limited to surveillance footage allegedly showing Mangione shooting and killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan, as well as fingerprint and DNA evidence and a phone recovered by police.
U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett, who is overseeing the federal stalking case, ruled in January that the same evidence could be used during Mangione’s federal trial, which is scheduled to begin in January 2027.
Defense lawyers have argued that the warrantless search of the backpack violated Mangione’s constitutional rights.
“At the hearing, Altoona law enforcement officers repeatedly attempted to justify their warrantless search of Mr. Mangione’s backpack … instead, all these officers demonstrated was an utter disregard for a defendant’s constitutional rights and a shocking ignorance of basic search and seizure caselaw,” Mangione’s attorneys wrote in a state court filing.
Federal prosecutors have argued police were justified in searching the backpack to ensure it contained nothing dangerous and said Mangione’s statements to officers were voluntary and made before he was under arrest.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to federal and state murder charges, which carry the possibility of life in prison. He is being held in a federal jail in Brooklyn while awaiting trial.