1 year after his arrest, testimony continues in Luigi Mangione’s evidence hearing

(NEW YORK) — One year after his arrest on Dec. 9, 2024, the pretrial hearing in the case of accused CEO killer Luigi Mangione is in its fifth day in a lower Manhattan courtroom.

Attorneys for Mangione, who is accused of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a Manhattan sidewalk last December, are seeking to exclude from trial critical evidence that they say was illegally seized from his backpack without a warrant after officers apprehended him in a Pennsylvania McDonald’s five days after the shooting.

Tuesday’s first witness, Altoona police officer Stephen Fox, participated in the backpack search and is heard on body camera footage saying it was a “search incident to arrest” — the term that authorizes the search of an individual upon arrest in Pennsylvania.

After officers formally placed Mangione in custody, Fox is heard asking Mangione, “Anything in that bag we need to know about?”

Fox testified that he suspected the backpack contained a weapon.

“We were dealing possibly with the New York shooter,” he said on the witness stand. 

Fox said he and his colleagues commenced the search of Mangione, consistent with “every arrest I make.” When asked by the prosecutor, Joel Seidemann, if he ever asked for a search warrant, Fox replied, “No.”

When his colleague, patrolman Christy Wasser, pulls out a loaded magazine wrapped in gray underwear, Fox is heard in the body camera video uttering, “It’s f—— him, dude.”

Fox expressed familiarity with the fatal shooting of Thompson. 

“It appeared to be a clear, targeted assassination of an individual in the hierarchy of healthcare,” Fox testified. “I knew it was a violent act of cowardice that targeted a defenseless human being.”  

Fox is seen in the footage patting down Mangione, whose back is to the officer with his hands against the wall. 

“I felt uneasy based on the way he was sitting there. He wasn’t making eye contact,” Fox testified. “This was most likely the New York shooter we were dealing with. I wanted to make sure he was clear of any weapons.”

Fox read Mangione his Miranda rights and handcuffed him at the restaurant.

Nearly a dozen witnesses have testified in the hearing’s five days so far. Their testimony will help Judge Gregory Carro determine what evidence is allowed at trial and what, if any, evidence should be omitted. 

The McDonald’s manager who called 911 said her customers recognized the young man seated in the back corner eating a Steak McMuffin and hash brown because of the distinctive eyebrows, which were visible even as a surgical mask and hood concealed much of his face. 

On a slip of paper police said they pulled from his backpack, Mangione had reminded himself on Dec. 5, 2024, to “pluck eyebrows.”

On the reverse side of the paper is a crudely drawn map and a reminder to “check Pittsburgh red eyes, ideally to Columbus or Cincin (get off early).”  Another reminder said, “keep momentum, FBI slower overnight.”

The piece of paper had not been seen publicly until it was shown during the ongoing hearing at which Mangione’s attorneys are trying to exclude everything taken from the backpack, including the alleged murder weapon, two loaded magazines, a silencer and a cell phone in a Faraday bag designed to conceal its signal.    

They argue that officers from the Altoona Police Department skipped steps and violated Mangione’s constitutional rights against illegal search and seizure because they were eager to help crack a big case. 

The district attorney’s office said the officers legitimately feared the backpack could contain something dangerous and their search complied with Pennsylvania law.

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