Luigi Mangione's Pennsylvania attorney argues search, arrest were illegal

Posted By: Staff
March 1, 2025 @ 11:40 am
ABC National

Luigi Mangione appears at a hearing for the murder of UHC CEO Brian Thompson at Manhattan Criminal Court on February 21, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Curtis Means – Pool/Getty Images)

(NEW YORK) — A defense attorney for Luigi Mangione, the man charged with killing the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, insists a police search and arrest inside a Pennsylvania McDonald’s late last year were illegal.

Mangione was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after a five-day manhunt for the suspect in the fatal shooting of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a New York City hotel on Dec. 4.

In a court filing posted to the Pennsylvania court docket Friday, Mangione’s Pennsylvania attorney, Thomas Dickey, said Mangione was never properly read his rights.

Instead, Dickey said, officers from the Altoona Police Department “continued to interrogate and question the Defendant, without any reading of his Miranda Rights.”

The defense lawyer also said Mangione was given “a specious and unreasonable” answer for why the officers approached him.

“At no time did the two officers indicate that Defendant was free to go; nor did they explain the reasons as to why Defendant was being detained; other than that, he looked suspicious and/or over stayed his welcome as a customer at McDonalds,” Dickey wrote.

In Pennsylvania, Mangione has pleaded not guilty to charges of forgery, possession of an instrument of a crime and giving a false ID to an officer.

He has also pleaded not guilty to murder charges in New York, a case that takes precedence over the case in Pennsylvania, where court dates have been scrapped and no new dates set. Mangione also faces federal charges, including a charge of murder through the use of a firearm, which makes him eligible for the death penalty.

His New York attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, has also raised questions about Mangione’s treatment in Pennsylvania custody, arguing during a recent hearing that police body camera footage indicates her client’s “constitutional rights were violated.”

“I think there’s a very, very serious search issue in this matter, and there might be evidence that is suppressed,” Agnifilo said.