Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, has decided to hire a former veteran Manhattan prosecutor to defend him as he faces murder charges in the Big Apple for the cold-blooded killing.
Karen Friedman-Agnifilo, a longtime prosecutor who headed the Manhattan district attorney's sex crimes unit before moving to the private sector, will represent the murder suspect. CNN reported.
“She has more experience as a person than anyone, especially in state court,” a New York prosecutor told the outlet.
“She knows every hallway of the courthouse, every judge, every clerk.”
Friedman-Agnifilo did not immediately respond to The Post's request for comment.
The news came hours after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced that the suspected gunman could be extradited from Pennsylvania to New York City to face murder charges as early as Tuesday.
Mr. Mangione was fighting an extradition order that would have required his return to the Empire State.
“It suggests that the defendant may waive his rights, but that waiver is not complete until the trial begins,” Bragg said. Said at a public safety press conference Friday night in Times Square.
“Until then, we're going to continue to move forward in parallel and we're going to be ready to see if he waives extradition or whether he contests extradition.”
Mangione, a 26-year-old University of Pennsylvania graduate, was spotted by Thompson on Dec. 4 as the 50-year-old CEO walked into the Sixth Avenue Hilton Hotel, where UnitedHealthcare's parent company was holding its annual investor meeting. He is accused of shooting and killing Mr. .
The assassination suspect led police on a five-day manhunt that ended on Monday when he was taken into custody at a McDonald's in Pennsylvania after an employee noticed him and called police.
Inside the backpack, police recovered a 3D-printed pistol with a homemade silencer, a loaded Glock magazine, and multiple fake identification documents.
He also had a handwritten manifesto-type document addressed to “federal authorities” that mentioned United Healthcare and accused the health insurer of corporate greed.
Police said the trajectory of the ghost gun matched shell casings recovered from the crime scene, and Mangione's fingerprints matched those of a water bottle and granola bar wrappers found near the crime scene.
UnitedHealth Group/AFP (via Getty Images)
Mangione is being held at the State Correctional Facility in Huntington, Pennsylvania, after a judge denied bail earlier this week.
He has pleaded not guilty to numerous charges, including murder and gun possession.
