Luigi Mangione enters a not guilty plea after being charged with shooting and killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson
Washington: The media reports that Luigi Mangione, who is suspected of shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson to death in Midtown Manhattan, entered a not guilty plea to murder and terrorist charges in a New York courtroom on Monday. Mangione responded to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office charges for the first time at this hearing.
Mangione, 26, is charged with 11 counts, including two instances of second-degree murder, first-degree murder, and other crimes, including forgeries and firearms.
Karen Friedman Agnifilo, Mangione’s lawyer, raised concerns during the hearing regarding her client’s right to a fair trial, pointing out that Mayor Eric Adams was one of the dozens of heavily armed law enforcement officers present when he was extradited from Pennsylvania to Lower Manhattan last week, according to CNN.
“Two competing jurisdictions are treating this young guy like a human pingpong ball. She remarked, “They’re treating him like a human spectacle.”
Judge Gregory Carro promised Agnifilo that the jury would be properly chosen and that her client’s trial would be fair.
February 21 has been designated as the next court date.
Prosecutors in New York charged Mangione with murder and other offenses, and he showed up for an extradition hearing in the Blair County Courthouse in Pennsylvania on December 11.
Following his arrest on December 9 at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, Mangione was charged by New York prosecutors with one count of murder, two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, one count of second-degree possession of a forged document, and one count of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
According to the charge filed in court, Mangione was discovered in possession of “a black 3D-printed pistol and a black silencer.” According to CNN, detective Yousef Demes of the Midtown North Detective Squad presented evidence that Mangione is the one seen on security footage shooting Thompson to death outside a Midtown Manhattan Hilton Hotel.
