Judge rules some evidence admissible in Luigi Mangione murder case

MANHATTAN — SOME OF THE EVIDENCE in the Luigi Mangione case can be used during his state murder trial this fall, State Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro ruled on Monday.

The allowed evidence includes a gun and notebook that police found inside Mangione's backpack when he was arrested in an Altoona, Pennsylvania restaurant. The notebook contains what prosecutors have described as a "manifesto" that denounces America's "parasitic" health insurance industry. The gun was linked to shell casings found at the murder scene outside the New York Hilton Midtown.

Mangione has pleaded not guilty to the Dec. 4, 2024 shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson as the latter was en route to his company's annual investors' conference. Mangione, in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Sunset Park, faces a state trial in September and a federal trial in early 2027.

The judge, however, also ruled that other items from Mangione's backpack, including his US passport, cellphone and wallet, are inadmissible as evidence, and that an initial search of that bag at the time of his arrest was "improper" and "warrantless."

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