NEW YORK – Luigi Mangione returns to court on Tuesday for the continuation of a crucial hearing where he seeks to prevent New York prosecutors from introducing evidence they claim connects him to the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last year.

The pretrial proceedings in Mangione’s state murder trial commenced on Monday. Prosecutors presented surveillance footage of the December 4, 2024, incident and showed security video capturing Mangione’s arrest at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania five days later.

During the hearing, Mangione, 27, sat tensely, occasionally clenching a pen in his right hand, as the court listened to a 911 call. The call came from a McDonald’s manager who reported customer concerns that Mangione resembled the suspect in Thompson’s murder.

His defense team is urging Judge Gregory Carro to prohibit the prosecution from introducing evidence found in Mangione’s backpack at the time of his arrest. This includes a 9 mm handgun, which prosecutors allege matches the murder weapon, and a notebook purportedly detailing Mangione’s plan to target a health insurance executive.

The defense argues that these items should be excluded due to the lack of a warrant for the backpack search. They are also seeking to suppress certain statements Mangione made to law enforcement, such as providing a false name. The defense claims officers questioned him before informing him of his right to remain silent.

Mangione, who hails from a prominent Maryland family and boasts an Ivy League education, has pleaded not guilty to both state and federal murder charges. The state charges could result in a life sentence, while the federal case carries potential for the death penalty. Trial dates have yet to be determined. The next federal court hearing is set for January 9.

Mangione’s lawyers want to bar evidence from both cases, but this week’s hearing pertains only to the state case.

Five witnesses testified on Monday, including a Pennsylvania prison officer who said Mangione told him that at the time of his arrest he had a backpack with foreign currency and a 3D-printed pistol.

Another prison officer said his superintendent told him Mangione was being held under constant watch because the facility “did not want an Epstein-style situation,” referring to Jeffrey Epstein’s 2019 jail suicide.

More law enforcement officers are expected to take the witness stand on Tuesday.

Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting Thompson from behind as the executive walked to a midtown Manhattan hotel for his company’s annual investor conference. Prosecutors say “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.

Mangione was arrested as he ate breakfast at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of Manhattan after the restaurant’s manager told a 911 dispatcher, “I have a customer here that some other customers were suspicious of — that he looks like the CEO shooter from New York.”

The manager told the dispatcher that she searched online for photos of the suspect that police disseminated. But, as Mangione sat in the restaurant, she said she could only see his eyebrows because he had a beanie pulled down close to his eyes and was wearing a medical face mask.

On Monday, a few dozen Mangione supporters watched the hearing from the back of the courtroom.

One wore a green T-shirt that said: “Without a warrant, it’s not a search, it’s a violation.” Another woman held a doll of the Luigi video game character and had a smaller figurine of him clipped to her purse.

Court officials say the hearing could take more than a week.