The Pennsylvania lawyer representing Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old accused of killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, is seeking to dismiss the criminal charges he faces in the state.
The Ivy League graduate is accused of gunning down Thompson near a Midtown Manhattan hotel on December 4. Authorities believe he then escaped the crime scene by foot, bike, cab, and bus to Altoona, Pennsylvania, where he was arrested nearly a week later, concluding a manhunt that gripped the nation.
Police violated the law during its stop, arrest, and seizure of Mangione in December at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania on December 9, 2024, his lawyer Thomas Dickey argued in a motion Monday.
The charges he faces in the state were based on evidence “received as a fruit of an illegal stop, seizure, detention, and/or arrest,” the filing stated. Mangione has not yet made a plea in Pennsylvania.
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Mangione is seeking to dismiss numerous state charges: forgery, firearms not to be carried without a license, tampering records, possessing an instrument of a crime, and false identification to law enforcement. He’s also asking the court to suppress evidence, search warrants, statements made at his arraignment, as well as the reference to his so-called “manifesto.” This label was “improper” and was done “solely for the purpose to prejudice the Defendant and put him in a negative light before the public,” Dickey argued.
The Altoona Police Department “lacked reasonable suspicion” to arrest and detain Mangione at that time, the attorney said.
Luigi Mangione, accused of fatally shooting the UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, is now seeking to drop the charges he faces in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested in December. (AP)
Before the McDonald’s employee made the 911 call that led to Mangione’s arrest, the police had “no paperwork, photograph, warrant, communication, or other information in its possession corroborating the speculation that Defendant was in fact the person being sought in New York,” the filing says.
They also lacked “probable cause” to conduct a Terry frisk, since it was done despite “no factual basis to form a reasonable belief” that Mangione may be armed and dangerous.
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Police officers blocked him from leaving the fast food restaurant; he didn’t know that he was free to go, the lawyer argued.
The “unlawful detention” spanned about 20 minutes while police tried to identify Mangione as the suspect wanted in New York. Although officers also sent a photo of the defendant to agents at the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office and FBI.
“No official identification of the Defendant, as being the suspect from New York, was ever made by any law enforcement personnel from the State of New York; the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, or the FBI,” Dickey argued. The purported identification as the wanted person in New York was “speculative and based on a hunch.”
Mangione was also not given any information as to why he was being held, the filing says.
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Magnione was identified at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania by an employee of the fast food chain (AP)
After 15 minutes of “unlawful detention,” he was told he was “officially under a police investigation” but was not immediately read his Miranda rights.
Police also searched his belongings, including his backpack, without a valid warrant to search these items, the lawyer argued. They discover a 9mm handgun, a mechanized upper receiver, a suspected 3D-printed suppressor, some handwritten notes and a red notebook, dubbed by police as a “manifesto.”
Any and all items obtained from Magnione on December 9, 2024 should be suppressed, the lawyer argued.
This filing comes weeks after Karen Friedman Agnifilo, the attorney representing him in his New York state case, told the court during a pretrial hearing that she believes there were search and seizure violations during his Pennsylvania arrest.
She argued that he was “treated differently than other defendants,” since he was being held in federal custody despite the state case proceedings coming first.
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He faces 11 criminal counts in New York, including murder as an act of terrorism, in connection with the December 4 killing; he has pleaded not guilty.
He also faces murder and stalking charges at the federal level. He has yet to make a plea in this venue.
Mangione is due back in federal court in New York on March 19.
A GiveSendGo legal fund, created by the December 4 Legal Committee, has garnered more than $720,000 as of Thursday. Mangione’s defense team last month said he would be accepting the funds.
“Luigi is aware of the fund and very much appreciates the outpouring of support. My client plans on utilizing it to fight all three of the unprecedented cases against him,” Agnifilo said.
More than $22 million in “Money Match” checks were mailed to nearly 100,000 Pennsylvanians, the treasury said.
In a news release on Thursday, the Pennsylvania Treasury said people should be on the lookout for the checks, which are part of the Pennsylvania Money Match program. Treasurer Stacy Garrity said to cash or deposit the checks “promptly.”
The first Pennsylvania Money Match checks, totaling more than $1.7 million, are now on the way to Pennsylvanians’ mailboxes. Pennsylvania Money Match is a new program that allows Treasury to return certain unclaimed property to rightful owners automatically, which was approved unanimously by the General Assembly and signed by the Governor last year.
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“I want Pennsylvanians to know that this is a real check, it is real money, and it belongs to them,” Garrity said in the news release. “And as always, I still encourage everyone to regularly search for unclaimed property online, as many claims will not qualify for the Money Match process.”
With the mailing of the year’s last batch of checks, more than $50 million will have been returned automatically to Pennsylvanians.
What are Money Match checks?
The program allows the state treasury to automatically return unclaimed property valued up to $500 owned by a single individual. Before the program was created in 2024, residents themselves had to seek out unclaimed property.
“I’m thrilled to continue this program as we work hard to get more money back to its rightful owners,” Garrity said in the news release.
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However, if the property has multiple owners or is valued higher than $500, Pennsylvanians still need to file a claim.
What is unclaimed property?
Unclaimed property includes dormant bank accounts, uncashed checks, forgotten stocks, rebates and insurance policies, among other things. It can also include the contents of abandoned safe deposit boxes.
According to the state treasury, more than one in 10 Pennsylvanians is owed some of the $5 billion in unclaimed property in the treasury’s care, and the average value of a claim is more than $1,000.
Unclaimed property scam
On its website, the state treasury has a warning about scammers using text messages to target potential unclaimed property claimants.
The department “never reaches out to people in regard to any program, including unclaimed property, via unsolicited text messages.”
A special weather statement was issued by the National Weather Service on Friday at 10:06 a.m. until 1 p.m. for Warren, McKean, Elk, Cameron, Clearfield, Cambria and Somerset counties.
“Temperatures will drop below the freezing mark through midday with rain showers quickly changing to snow showers. Blustery winds may dry off roads and other paved surfaces, but any residual water from previous rain or melting snow could freeze up and result in slick spots through the afternoon,” explains the weather service.
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