Suspect in CEO shooting to plead not guilty and fight extradition, lawyer says | Brian Thompson shooting

The suspect in the shooting death of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, screamed: “This is completely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people” on Tuesday before he fought being extradited from Pennsylvania to face murder charges in New York.

During the hearing, Luigi Mangione was denied bail, meaning he will return to custody at Pennsylvania’s Huntingdon state correctional institution while navigating the process to contest extradition, which could take days – if not a month or more, as the New York Times noted.

Kathy Hochul, the governor of New York, said in a statement that she will sign the Manhattan district attorney’s request for a governor’s warrant to force an extradition “to ensure this individual is tried and held accountable”.

Mangione, 26, appeared for the proceeding in handcuffs and an orange prison jumpsuit, and video showed him yelling as police led him into the courthouse. Not all of what he screamed was immediately intelligible.

Defense attorney Thomas Dickey, who is representing Mangione, said outside the courthouse that he would be challenging his client’s imprisonment by filing a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, according to the New York Times. The judge gave him 14 days to challenge the detention.

In an interview with CNN following Mangione’s extradition hearing, Dickey added his client will be pleading not guilty to the charges he faces in Pennsylvania.

Mangione was arrested on Monday at a McDonald’s restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, in connection with Thompson’s killing outside a Manhattan hotel hosting a meeting of investors in the CEO’s company.

The authorities in Pennsylvania detained him after he was recognized by a local person from photographs released by New York police investigating the murder.

Police found Mangione with a firearm suppressor, a mask like the gunman’s, a fake New Jersey ID matching the one the police say the gunman used to check into a New York City hostel before the shooting, and a handwritten document, according to New York authorities.

On Monday night, Mangione was charged with second-degree murder, forgery and three gun charges by prosecutors in New York, following his arraignment at the Blair county courthouse in Altoona, Pennsylvania, where he faces separate charges of carrying a gun without a license, forgery, falsely identifying himself to the authorities and possessing “instruments of crime”.

During the arraignment hearing on Monday, the judge asked Mangione if he understood the charges against him, and he said he did. No plea was entered and he was denied bail.

As detectives begin piecing together Mangione’s history, one area of focus has been the chronic back problems that he appears to have suffered since childhood.

Investigators could explore whether Mangione was denied insurance coverage for his condition.

He also appears to have withdrawn from social connections months earlier, prompting one to write on social media: “I don’t know if you are ok or just in a super isolated place … but I haven’t heard from you in months.”

The Mangione family released a statement on Monday evening, stating that the family was “shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest”.

“We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson, and we ask people to pray for all involved,” they added.

Among other things, Mangione is entitled to an evidentiary hearing in Pennsylvania after his decision to fight extradition. Prosecutors will also have to summon at least one witness, which could give the public a closer look at the case that it otherwise may not receive.

As also noted by the New York Times, the office of the New York governor, Kathy Hochul, will be required to submit what is known as a governor’s warrant to her Pennsylvania counterpart Josh Shapiro to formally request extradition before the process begins in earnest.

Peter Weeks, the district attorney in Blair county, Pennsylvania, said that his office would be prepared for when a judge schedules a hearing “to do what’s necessary” to get Mangione to New York, according to CNN.

“We do not intend to delay this defendant’s extradition to New York and we certainly – we’ve indicated to New York, their prosecution should take precedence, and then ours will follow,” Weeks told reporters after the extradition hearing on Tuesday.