Luigi Mangione will be brought back to Manhattan on Thursday to face an “extremely rare” first-degree murder charge in the brazen shooting death of United HeathCare CEO Brian Thompson, sources said. .
Mangione, 26, is scheduled to waive extradition at a hearing Thursday morning at the Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, after resisting orders to bring him to the Big Apple to face charges. .
He is scheduled to appear before Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Gregory Caro on the 11-count indictment announced Tuesday, a court official confirmed to the Post, this week and possibly as early as Thursday. Ta.
Mangione, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and from a prominent Maryland family, faces the possibility of life in prison without parole if convicted of murder as an act of terrorism.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Mangione faces the upgraded charges because the Dec. 4 crime in which Thompson was shot and killed outside the Midtown Hilton Hotel was “intended to incite terrorism.” He said he had been indicted.
“This was a horrifying, carefully planned murder case designed to shock, attract attention and intimidate,” Bragg said at a news conference.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said authorities were witnessing a “shocking and gruesome celebration of cold-blooded murder” that was being hailed on social media.
“Let me be clear: There was nothing heroic about Mangione's actions,” Tisch said at a joint news conference.
However, first-degree murder (usually charged in cases involving victims who may be law enforcement personnel or witnesses to the crime) is considered a “range” by some legal experts. has been done.
“This is extremely rare and this is actually the first time we've seen an enhanced version of terrorism in Manhattan,” veteran defense attorney Ron Kuby told the Post on Wednesday.
The lawyer said he felt Mr Bragg was “overcharging” Mr Mangione in an attempt to generate “great headlines”.
Kuby added that by calling Mangione a “terrorist,” prosecutors paved the way for politicizing the health care executive's murder.
Prosecutors said Mangione is suspected of having in his possession a handwritten manifesto-type document that referenced United Healthcare and accused the health insurance company of corporate greed.
“If anyone is wondering whether Mangione can bring his own politics into this case as a defendant…he doesn't need to worry about that,” Kuby said.
“The prosecution is going to do it for him,” he added.
Manhattan defense attorney Jason Goldman said first-degree murder is a “rare charge” that could be used to secure a compromise verdict at a later trial.
“While it is true that the killings 'coerced and influenced' the public, that may have been an unintended reaction as opposed to the reasons behind the killings,” Goldman said. “If anything, the charges may have been used as a tool for prosecutors to later obtain a compromise verdict at trial.”
Mangione is charged with multiple counts of weapons possession and second-degree forgery, as well as two counts of second-degree murder. He faces 25 years to life for second-degree murder.
Some experts warned that the online hysteria sparked by the brazen murder could sway the entire trial.
“One wild card juror could turn this thing around,” said Mike DiCioaro, a former Manhattan prosecutor and defense attorney. “When you're on social media, you see there are a lot of wild cards.”
Mangione had contested an extradition order that would have sent him to Manhattan, but Bragg said the murder suspect could relinquish his demeanor at a court date scheduled for Thursday morning in Pennsylvania.
He had a preliminary hearing on firearms charges Thursday morning, and is scheduled to make a second court appearance soon after, where he will formally waive extradition to Manhattan, officials said.
Mr. Mangione brazenly shot and killed Mr. Thompson as he headed to a hotel on Sixth Avenue near West 54th Street, where UnitedHealthcare's parent company was holding its annual investor conference, using a 9mm 3D-printed machine equipped with a homemade silencer. He is accused of fatally shooting him with a ghost gun. .
The cold-blooded killing, caught on camera, shows a masked gunman shooting Thompson in the back and hitting him in the back and leg, according to the indictment.
Two shell casings had the words “DENY” and “DEPOSE” written on them, and a bullet found at the scene had the word “DELAY” spread across it.
After escaping the shooting on an electric bicycle, Mangione led police on a five-day manhunt, where he drove uptown, then grabbed a taxi and eventually fled the state, officials said. .
Prosecutors said the man had been staying at the HI New York City hostel on the Upper West Side for more than a week before the murders, using a fake New Jersey ID named Mark Rosario.
Mangione was arrested on December 9th at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
