NEW YORK — Luigi Mangione is set to appear in court today for the ninth consecutive day of pretrial hearings that will decide what evidence can be presented when his trial begins.
Mangione faces charges in the 2024 murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Throughout the hearings, prosecutors have summoned over a dozen witnesses to testify, while the presiding judge remains optimistic about concluding this phase by week’s end.
A key issue in these proceedings is whether the Altoona, Pennsylvania police’s search of Mangione’s backpack was conducted lawfully and if the evidence found during the search can be used in court.
The defense team has challenged the legality of the search, contending that the officers lacked a warrant.
In a recent development, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office indicated it would not utilize certain statements made by Mangione during his custody at the Altoona police department following his arrest on December 9, 2024.
The New York police lieutenant leading the investigation into the shooting testified that he set up recording equipment inside an interrogation room in the Altoona station house after Mangione was apprehended in a Pennsylvania McDonald’s five days after the shooting. But when asked by defense attorney Marc Agnifilo if he knew whether it was legal to record someone in Pennsylvania without their knowledge, he conceded he did not know.
“I was being guided by my legal counsel,” Lt. David Leonardi testified.
Mangione, at the station house, requested an attorney and investigators left the room, but the video and audio recording continued, Leonardi said.
When Agnifilo asked if suspects are made aware they are being recorded during interviews done in New York, prosecutors objected and the judge called both sides to the bench.
When Agnifilo returned to the podium he announced, “I understand that the DA is withdrawing these statements so I have no further questions.”
Earlier Tuesday, attorneys played security camera footage of Mangione using a laptop at a Best Buy appliance store. The footage was among the evidence turned over to the NYPD following his arrest, according to testimony from Altoona Patrolman George Featherstone, the police officer in charge of cataloging the evidence.
Featherstone testified about photographing and processing all the items found on Mangione’s body and in his backpack at the time of his arrest.
Police said they pulled a slip of crumpled white paper from Mangione’s pocket that appeared to be a to-do list. Best Buy was listed under the reminders for Dec. 8. Featherstone said officers also recovered a Best Buy receipt from Mangione, a photo of which was shown in court, that listed items including a Polaroid waterproof digital camera and memory cards.
Security camera footage also showed Mangione at a CVS drug store. He had a plastic CVS bag with him the day he was arrested at McDonald’s that Featherstone said contained a package of 25 CVS-brand medical masks.
Featherstone testified that he has been involved in hundreds of arrests, about 30%-40% of them involving backpacks or bags, and that “every one of them resulted in a search.”
When prosecutor Zachary Kaplan asked how many of those searches involved a warrant, Featherstone said none that he recalled.
The defense has argued the officers violated Mangione’s constitutional rights against illegal search and seizure because they lacked a warrant when they searched his backpack.
Following these hearings, we expect to get a ruling from the judge in January.
ABC News contributed to this report.
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