Luigi Mangione appears in Manhattan Supreme Court to face murder charges for shooting UHC CEO Brian Thompson to death. Photo: CURTIS MEANS / AFP
Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a busy sidewalk in Midtown Manhattan, has been escorted into a New York courtroom where he pleaded not guilty to state murder and terror charges.
The hearing marked Mangione's first opportunity to formally address the accusations brought by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.
The 26-year-old faces 11 counts in New York, including one of murder in the first degree and two of murder in the second degree, along with other weapon and forgery charges, according to the indictment.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office confirmed to CNN it is coordinating with federal authorities for Mangione's arraignment on the state charges.
Prosecutors said they would do everything possible to expedite the discovery process, sharing information with the defence.
"I have never seen a case with such volume of evidence, aside from the issue of the quality of the evidence," prosecutor Joel Seidemann said during the hearing. "This is not a usual case in terms of the thousands of hours of video."
Mangione's attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, expressed concerns during the hearing about her client's ability to obtain a fair trial, specifically citing Mayor Eric Adams' presence last week among the dozens of heavily armed law enforcement officials as he was extradited to Lower Manhattan from Pennsylvania.
"He's a young man and he's being treated like a human pingpong ball by two warring jurisdictions here," she said. "They're treating him like a human spectacle."
Judge Gregory Carro told Agnifilo her client's trial will be fair, adding "we will carefully select a jury." The next court date has been set for 21 February.
Mangione appeared calm following the hearing as officers escorted him slowly down a long hallway in shackles. He was dressed in khakis and a maroon sweater with a white collared shirt underneath.
Members of the public - including two dozen women and six men - filled four rows of the courtroom to watch the hearing unfold.
Meanwhile, outside the courthouse, protesters rallied in support of Mangione. The crowd waived posters that read "people over profit" and chanted "health care is a human right".
Mangione has been made into something of a macabre folk hero online after Thompson's murder exposed deep anger and resentment toward the US health care system and insurers like UnitedHealthcare.
The public was captivated by the week-long manhunt for Thompson's alleged killer which ended earlier this month when a customer and a worker at a Pennsylvania McDonald's reported Mangione to the police.
A federal criminal complaint was unsealed on Thursday, in which Mangione was charged with murder through use of a firearm, two stalking charges and a firearms offence.
He could face the death penalty if found guilty of the federal murder charge, while the state charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Prosecutors have not indicated whether they will seek the death penalty, and the decision would ultimately need to be approved by the US Attorney General.
He also faces charges in Pennsylvania in connection to the 3D-printed firearm and false ID allegedly in his possession when he was arrested. Now, the state and federal trials will "work in parallel", according to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office and the state trial will come before his federal trial, prosecutors said.
The push for federal charges came from the US Attorney's office, multiple law enforcement sources told CNN. Because the FBI was already involved in the investigation assisting the NYPD with out-of-town leads, FBI agents were asked to draw up the federal complaint based on evidence collected by NYPD detectives working on the state charges and police in Pennsylvania who arrested Mangione.
Federal prosecutors say they have jurisdiction in the case because Mangione's "travel in interstate commerce" - taking a bus from Atlanta to New York prior to the killing - as well as "use of interstate facilities" by allegedly using a cell phone and the internet "to plan and carry out the stalking, shooting, and killing" of Thompson in broad daylight on a Manhattan sidewalk.
- CNN