Clad in a bulletproof vest, Luigi Mangione made his first post-arraignment court appearance Friday, an administrative hearing in his New York state murder case. Outside the Manhattan Criminal Court, a large crowd rallied, assembled by fliers that called on folks to gather “for people harmed & killed by insurance industry greed.”
The demonstration was proof that the outpouring of anger following Luigi Mangione’s alleged slaying of UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson has yet to abate. Even as insurance industry leaders such as Andrew Witty, the CEO of UnitedHealthCare parent company UnitedHealth Group, urge underlings to “tune out the negative messaging,” doctors and patients continue to seethe over a system that allegedly denies life-saving care to scores of at-risk people.
That rage was reflected in a December poll by nonpartisan research organization NORC at the University of Chicago, in which respondents agreed that while Mangione was primarily responsible for Thompson’s death, insurance company coverage denials, such as UnitedHealthcare’s AI-generated rejections—bore “a moderate amount” of responsibility for the homicide. Or as Mangione said in a statement posted to his recently launched website, “I am overwhelmed by – and grateful for – everyone who has written me to share their stories and express their support. Powerfully, this support has transcended political, racial, and even class divisions, as mail has flooded MDC from across the country, and around the globe.”
On Friday, that support continued. Outside the courthouse, a large group of sign-carrying activists chanted phrases such as “free, free Luigi” and “no more death by denial,” according to the BBC. That chant occasionally leaked into the court proceedings, writes journalist Nada Tawfik, saying, “During the hearing, above the tapping of press typing and the legal sides speaking, we could hear the occasional cheer from outside the courtroom.”
Mangione’s supporters weren’t just outside. According to the New York Times, “about 100 young women lined benches and sat on the floor” in the 15th-floor hallway outside the courtroom. Among them was Chelsea Manning, the former army intelligence analyst who was jailed in 2010 for leaking classified military documents as part of the Wikileaks document dump. Many of the supporters were dressed in red sweaters over white-collared shirts, a nod to Mangione’s outfit at his arraignment hearing.
According to CNN, former Manhattan prosecutor Karen Friedman Agnifilo, who is now defending Mangione against charges that include first-degree murder, second-degree murder, and weapons counts, was met with applause and cheers when she arrived at the courthouse. While those outside were denied a glimpse of the suspect, those inside the courtroom watched him arrive, hands and feet shackled, to sit behind a table as Agnifilo argued on his behalf before Judge Gregory Carro.
During the 40-minute hearing, Agnifilo asked that Mangione’s shackles be removed, a request that Carro denied “for security reasons,” ABC reports. She also claimed that there were “very serious issues” around evidence collection at the time of Mangione’s arrest at a Altoona, Pennsylvania McDonald’s, suggesting that some of the prosecution’s materials might not be admissible.
“It is alleged that Luigi had a gun on him and had other property on him that they are going to use against him in all of the cases,” Agnifilo told reporters outside the courtroom “If there is a search and seizure issue—and again, we have to review all of the paperwork and camera footage when we receive it, before we say definitively whether we think there is one—but so far, what we are seeing is, we think there is a serious search and seizure issue.”
Following the hearing, Mangione—who has pleaded not guilty on all counts—returned to Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, where he will remain until his as-yet unscheduled trials. His next hearings for the New York charges have been scheduled for Thursday, June 26. He is also scheduled for a hearing in Pennsylvania on Monday, February 24, on weapons charges, but it’s unclear if he will attend in person; the federal case against Mangione, which includes claims of stalking and murder, also has a hearing scheduled at New York’s U.S. District Court on March 19.
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