By Jack Queen and Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Luigi Mangione, the person accused of fatally gunning down medical health insurance govt Brian Thompson on a Manhattan road, pleaded not responsible on Monday to New York state homicide prices that model him a terrorist.
Mangione, 26, was escorted into Decide Gregory Carro’s Thirteenth-floor courtroom within the New York state legal courthouse in decrease Manhattan with a courtroom officer on every arm, and a procession of a half dozen officers following him. He was in handcuffs and shackles, and wore a burgundy sweater over a white-collared shirt.
Mangione leaned right into a microphone and stated “not guilty” when requested how he pleaded to the 11-count indictment, which incorporates three homicide prices, together with homicide as an act of terrorism.
If convicted, he faces a most sentence of life in jail with out the potential of parole.
Final Thursday, Mangione was transferred from Pennsylvania to New York after deciding to not battle extradition. He was led off a helicopter in decrease Manhattan by a big phalanx of law enforcement officials and New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams.
That spectacle and different statements by public officers counsel Mangione could not be capable to get a good trial, his lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo stated on the listening to.
“They are treating him like he is some sort of political fodder, some sort of spectacle,” Agnifilo stated. “He is not a symbol, he is someone who is afforded a right to a fair trial.”
Monday’s arraignment was the second courtroom look in New York for Mangione, 26.
He was arrested at a McDonald’s (NYSE:) restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, 5 days after the brazen, pre-dawn Dec. 4 killing of Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:)’s insurance coverage unit UnitedHealthcare, outdoors a lodge in midtown Manhattan the place the corporate was gathering for an investor convention.
Mangione additionally faces a four-count federal legal grievance charging him with stalking and killing Thompson. He has not but been requested to enter a plea to these prices. U.S. Justice of the Peace Decide Katharine Parker ordered Mangione detained at a Dec. 19 presentment on these prices.
‘DENY, DEFEND, DEPOSE’
Greater than two dozen members of the general public sat within the viewers of the courtroom the place Mangione was offered.
A small group of protesters had gathered outdoors the decrease Manhattan courthouse in freezing temperatures expressing assist for Mangione and anger at healthcare firms.
One particular person held an indication saying “DENY, DEFEND, DEPOSE,” the phrases police say had been discovered etched on shell casings on the crime scene. The phrases echo ways some accuse insurers of utilizing to keep away from paying out claims.
Whereas the killing of Thompson has been condemned by public officers, Mangione has been feted as a folks hero by some Individuals who decry the steep prices of healthcare and the ability held by insurance coverage firms to disclaim paying for some medical therapies.
The federal prices would make him eligible for the dying penalty, ought to the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace in Manhattan resolve to pursue it.
The separate federal and state instances will proceed in parallel. The state case is at the moment anticipated to go to trial first, federal prosecutors stated.
Mangione’s lead lawyer, Friedman Agnifilo, stated on the federal courtroom listening to that the 2 units of prices gave the impression to be based mostly on conflicting theories. The state prices accuse Mangione of meaning to “intimidate or coerce a civilian population” and affect coverage, whereas the federal prices accuse him of stalking and killing a person.
Friedman Agnifilo stated the 2 instances appeared fully completely different, and he or she requested prosecutors to make clear whether or not each would proceed. Dominic Gentile, a federal prosecutor, stated Thursday’s preliminary look was not the suitable time to handle these authorized arguments.
Based on the federal legal grievance, the police who arrested Mangione discovered a pocket book that contained a number of handwritten pages that “express hostility towards the health insurance industry and wealthy executives in particular.”
A pocket book entry dated Oct. 22 allegedly described an intent to “wack” the chief govt of an insurance coverage firm at its investor convention. (This story has been corrected to consult with Brian Thompson as a UnitedHealth govt, not chief govt, within the headline and paragraph 1)
