27-year-old Luigi Mangione appeared in New York state court on Monday, Dec. 1 on charges of brazenly shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson
Thompson, 50, was fatally shot on December 4, 2024, on a busy sidewalk in midtown Manhattan. The incident sparked a national debate and during the hearing, his attorneys seek to have his diary entries and other key evidence tossed from his state murder case. Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state and federal murder charges in the incident.
In the pre-trial hearing, a corrections officer stated that after his arrest, Mangione was kept under “constant watch” in a plexiglass cell. The Guardian reports that Tomas Rivers, a corrections officer at SCI Huntingdon in Pennsylvania explained that the facility rarely saw such high-profile inmates and his superintendent told him to take measures to avoid an “Epstein-style situation.”
Jeffrey Epstein was under indictment on sex trafficking charges and was supposed to be kept under close supervision in his Manhattan jail cell. However, despite the close supervision by the guards, he was found dead in August 2019.
Mangione faces charges of second-degree murder in New York State, and a capital murder charge at the federal level. His defense wishes to exclude a 3D-printed gun discovered in a backpack carried by Mangione when he was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pa., five days after the shooting. The backpack also contained a notebook containing a “manifesto” against the health insurance industry, where the suspect expressed the desire to “wack” an insurance company CEO.
According to the defense, the gun and notebook were taken in an illegal search by Altoona police, prior to the issue of a warrant. Moreover, the defense wants the statements Luigi Mangione made to the authorities thrown out, as he was allegedly not read his Miranda rights. While the evidence was allegedly taken without a warrant and the defense claims it should be barred by the state’s case, prosecutors deny the claims and have agreed to a hearing on the matter.
Luigi Mangione Returns To Court | 99.3 The Fox https://t.co/P9zp232wvn pic.twitter.com/pFrhe2KBtp
— 99.3 the Fox (@rockwiththefox) December 1, 2025
At the hearing, Mangione and his lawyers watched intently, as video surveillance from the McDonald’s was played in court Monday, showing his arrest. The court also listened to a 911 call from the restaurant manager who said he recognized the suspect by his distinctive eyebrows.
The pretrial hearings are expected to last all week, while the prosecution and defense are set to call several witnesses. Monday’s witnesses included an NYPD officer, a 911 operator from Blair County, Pa. and an electronics salesman who processed surveillance footage from the McDonald’s.
Fox 5 journalist Lisa Evers reported that Mangione was greeted by a crowd of “feverish fans” when he arrived in court. The fans reportedly cheered the alleged killer while dressed in costumes, including one woman wearing a Luigi costume, like the Nintendo character from Super Mario Bros. The woman was seen to hold a sign reading “FREE LUIGI: Never Lose the Plot.”
Another fan clad in a Bowser costume, resembling the giant turtle villain from Super Mario, was holding up a sign reading “When Patients Die, Profits Ri$e.”
