Luigi Mangione, the man charged with murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, is back in court Monday for pretrial hearings about which evidence will be allowed in his upcoming trial in New York City. 

Mangione has pleaded not guilty to nine state charges, including murder, as well as other federal charges that carry the possibility of the death penalty. Back in September, a judge dropped two other state terrorism charges against him. 

The 27-year-old’s defense attorneys are arguing that certain evidence should be excluded from trial because of how they say it was obtained. 

Prosecutors with the Manhattan’s district attorney’s office have denied the defense’s accusations, but the judge called for a series of suppression hearings to go over the concerns. 

The hearings are expected to last several days, possibly all week. His trial date has not yet been set. 

A look inside the courtroom

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Luigi Mangione sits in the Manhattan Supreme Court during an evidentiary hearing in the murder case of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, in New York, on December 1, 2025.

Yuki Iwamura / POOL /AFP via Getty Images

Mangione walked into court wearing a gray suit with a patterned button down shirt. He appeared to lift his eyebrows to acknowledge the court officers and his attorneys, but he did not look at the gallery. 

His attorneys had requested he be allowed to wear civilian clothing during these hearings, rather than the tan prison clothing from his last court appearance. The judge granted him two suits, three shirts, three sweaters, three pairs of pants, five pairs of socks and one pair of shoes without laces that can be worn while he is being transported from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. 

Inside the courtroom, there appear to be roughly eight rows of journalists and three rows of the public, including some wearing shirts with Mangione’s name or photo and the color green.

The hearing was expected to begin around 10 a.m. but it got off to a late start around 11 a.m. 

Here’s what Mangione’s attorneys are arguing

Mangione’s defense says statements he made to law enforcement should be suppressed, because they claim officers failed to provide Miranda warnings, which is when a suspect is informed of their constitutional rights.

The defense also says evidence seized at the time of his arrest at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania shouldn’t be allowed, because they claim law enforcement did a warrantless search of his backpack after he was handcuffed and surrounded by officers. Among the items inside the backpack were a gun with a 3D printed receiver, ammunition and a red notebook he allegedly used as his diary. 

Defense attorneys don’t want the notebook entries or other writings put into evidence at these pretrial hearings, claiming they will prejudice Mangione if they are made public and potential jurors hear about it.

The defense is also arguing against non-eyewitness identification testimony at trial, meaning someone who was not a witness to an alleged crime who makes an identification from a picture or video.

Lastly, the defense has also renewed its request for Mangione to sit unshackled at the defense table. They want at least one hand free so he can write.