NEW YORK, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Luigi Mangione, the man accused of gunning down a health insurance executive outside a hotel in Manhattan, is due in federal court on Friday as a judge considers whether key pieces of evidence should be included in the death penalty murder case.
Mangione, 27, is accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a sidewalk in midtown Manhattan. Public officials condemned the shocking assassination, but Mangione became a folk hero of sorts to some Americans who decry steep healthcare costs and insurance practices.
He has pleaded not guilty to murder, stalking and weapons charges and will appear in custody at Friday’s hearing before U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett in Manhattan.
Mangione’s lawyers argue prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York should be barred from using evidence found in Mangione’s backpack -- including a 9-millimeter pistol, silencer, and journal entries -- because police illegally searched it without a warrant.
Prosecutors have argued that police officers in Altoona, Pennsylvania did not need a warrant because they had lawfully arrested Mangione for providing fake identification and were legally permitted to search the bag for dangerous items before transporting it.
Garnett has ordered an Altoona Police Department officer to testify at Friday’s hearing about the department’s standard procedures for securing, safeguarding and inventorying a person’s property when they are arrested in a public place.
Mangione’s lawyers are separately asking Garnett to throw out an indictment against Mangione over purported legal deficiencies, or block prosecutors from seeking the death penalty over alleged violations of Mangione’s constitutional rights.
Garnett has scheduled jury selection for early September.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges in a separate case brought by the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
The judge overseeing that case is also weighing a request by Mangione’s lawyers to suppress evidence from the backpack. A trial date has not been set.
(Reporting by Jack Queen in New York, Editing by Franklin Paul)
