Luigi Mangione’s murder defence to hinge on his mindset, jurors’ feelings

New York: Video. Fingerprints. A weapon. A manifesto. A plan.

Police claim they have accumulated overwhelming evidence that Luigi Mangione fatally shot UnitedHealth Group chief executive Brian Thompson in an early morning killing on a midtown Manhattan sidewalk that reverberated across the US.

Police believe murder accused Luigi Mangione had an animosity towards the US health insurance system.Credit: nna\josh.hohne

Mangione, 26, was arrested on December 9 in Altoona, Pennsylvania after a five-day manhunt. While the former software engineer sits in a nearby jail, fighting extradition to New York – a fight he could soon give up – he hired high-powered New York defence attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo to represent him.

Friedman Agnifilo and her legal team will have their work cut out for them.

Video showed a person matching Mangione’s description in New York before and after the December 4 shooting, which was also captured by a security camera. The New York Police Department said investigators matched Mangione’s fingerprints to evidence found near the scene, and that three shell casings they recovered match a ghost gun Mangione had when he was arrested.

When arrested, Mangione showed police a fake ID that New York authorities say was used by the suspect to check in at an Upper West Side hostel. And Mangione was carrying a manifesto decrying the healthcare industry and a notebook discussing the targeted killing of a CEO.

Mangione is taken into the Blair County Courthouse after being arrested in Pennsylvania last week.Credit: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Some former prosecutors said the case is exactly the kind they hope for.

“I tried much weaker cases than what this appears to be and won,” said Ken Taub, who prosecuted dozens of homicide cases in Brooklyn. “I would love to have a case like this.”

Mangione is presumed innocent, like anyone else accused of a crime in the US. If he goes to trial, prosecutors will have to convince 12 jurors beyond a reasonable doubt that he is guilty.

That could be more difficult than it seems. Friedman Agnifilo could attack the evidence on multiple fronts. An insanity plea is also possible. And in a case that has churned up immense publicity and strong emotions, it may be difficult to find jurors who can set their personal feelings aside.

UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson was shot dead outside a New York hotel on December 4.Credit: AP

Mangione’s family posted a statement following his arrest, that they were “shocked and devastated” by the news. A relative who posted the statement didn’t respond to a request for comment on Mangione’s New York lawyer and the defence case they may raise.

Friedman Agnifilo can’t fully inspect the evidence until Mangione is indicted in New York. At a press conference on Friday, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg alluded to the potential of Mangione waiving extradition, which would quicken his return to New York. No extradition hearing had been scheduled by Friday, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania courts said.

Insanity defence

Before the shooting, Mangione was on a glide path to success. He was his class valedictorian at a prestigious prep school, held two degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and worked as a data engineer at retail website TrueCar.

UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson.Credit: AP

This year, however, he reportedly withdrew from contact with family and friends, which has fuelled speculation about his mental health.

Under New York law, Friedman Agnifilo could argue her client had a “mental disease or defect”, which means the defence team would seek to prove Mangione didn’t understand the nature and consequences of his actions.

Indeed, Friedman Agnifilo suggested such a defence before she was hired to represent him.

“It looks to me like there might be a not guilty by reason of insanity defence that they’re going to be thinking about because the evidence is going to be so overwhelming that he did what he did,” Friedman Agnifilo told CNN before she was hired.

Friedman Agnifilo declined an interview request for this story.

Such a defence, if a judge allows it, would require an evaluation of Mangione by an independent psychiatrist to determine if he’s fit to stand trial.

Yet Gary Galperin, who spent more than 40 years as a prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, said that defence was unlikely to succeed.

“Clearly, he knew what he was doing,” Galperin said. “He knew a gun could discharge a bullet that could kill, and he knew it was wrong because he fled the jurisdiction and he tried to conceal his identity.”

Once Mangione reaches New York, Friedman Agnifilo could argue that some or all of the evidence was improperly collected, violates his rights or is irrelevant.

None of the evidence that police have touted so far has had to withstand court scrutiny, said attorney Susan Walsh. “What is tantalising sometimes to the public is not necessarily the truth,” she said.

Picking a jury

Each side would also seek to shape a jury to its benefit. Friedman Agnifilo is likely to look for jurors who are sceptical of the police and prosecutors, are sympathetic to a promising young defendant or indicate that they are open to or share his grievances about the healthcare industry.

“Culture, politics, outside influences and attitudes always influence the jury, no matter what,” Walsh said.

In a sign of the case’s resonance with the public, last week a Florida woman was charged with threatening her health insurance provider during a phone conversation after police say she uttered the same words found on the bullet casings used in the Thompson’s shooting death in New York.

Police in Lakeland, Florida say Briana Boston, 42, told a representative of Blue Cross Blue Shield, “Delay, deny, depose. You people are next”, as they ended a phone call on Tuesday in which Boston unsuccessfully challenged the company’s denial of her insurance claim.

As for Mangione’s trial, Taub, the former prosecutor, said the case “is going to be won” on jury selection. He said posts on social media expressing disdain for the deceased executive’s perceived role in the US healthcare system suggest the defence could find jurors who are disinclined to convict.

A booking photo of Briana Boston released by the Lakeland Police Department.Credit: ABC/Lakeland PD

Prosecutors are likely to push back on any effort to paint Mangione as a righteous vigilante.

Under New York law, a defendant is not permitted to put forth a defence that attempts to appeal to bias or aversion to the health insurance industry, Galperin said.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, the state’s former attorney general, warned against celebrating Mangione.

“Hear me on this,” Shapiro said. “He is no hero.”

Potential plea

Friedman Agnifilo will assess the strength of the prosecution’s case and weigh his appetite for a trial, before exploring a possible guilty plea.

One factor that could motivate Mangione to agree to a deal is the prospect of spending less time in prison. Mangione has been charged with second-degree murder, which carries a maximum jail term of 25 years to life.

Mangione could be offered a lesser term if he pleads guilty, though prosecutors likely wouldn’t offer much leniency, Galperin said.

“Given the cold-blooded and very deliberate nature of all of this and the malicious intent behind it all, I don’t see this as a plea to anything other than murder,” he said.

Bloomberg, AP

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