A judge cleared prosecutors to use Luigi Mangione’s diary and gun, found in his backpack, for use at his murder trial, but blocked other pieces of evidence from being used.
In the latest development in Mangione’s state murder trial over the killing of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, Judge Gregory Carro gave a split ruling. The ruling allowed prosecutors to use a gun and handwritten diary found in Mangione’s backpack, rejecting the defense’s argument that they were obtained illegally. However, Carro bought the defense’s argument when it came to a gun magazine, cellphone, passport, wallet, and computer chip.
The key difference was that the gun and diary were uncovered at the police station, while the other items were taken from his backpack at a McDonald’s during his arrest in December 2024. Carro said that the search at the police station was in line with the Altoona Police Department’s protocol, while the search at the restaurant, done before obtaining a warrant, was not. He said that the police failed to properly justify their logic that the search was intended to uncover any dangerous weapons.
“However, while the body-worn camera footage showed that officers did express concern at the scene that the backpack might contain a bomb, there was no evidence that a gun was a concern or that it was the basis for the search,” Carro wrote.
“But even if it were a legitimate concern, there was no possibility at the time of the search that the defendant might retrieve a gun from the backpack, and thus no exigency,” he said.
Despite the loss of the McDonald’s backpack evidence, the approval of the gun and diary, two of the biggest pieces of evidence, prosecutors say show a motive and link Mangione to the shooting. Prosecutors have described the diary as a “manifesto.”
“I finally feel confident about what I will do,” Mangione wrote in an August 2024 entry, according to court filings. “The details are coming together. And I don’t feel any doubt about whether it’s right/justified. I’m glad – in a way – that I’ve procrastinated [because] it allowed me to learn more about [UnitedHealthcare].”
The federal judge sided with the prosecution on the backpack evidence in the federal case.
“[T]he entire contents of the Backpack fall squarely within several exceptions to the warrant requirement,” U.S. District Court Judge Margaret Garnett wrote in January.
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Mangione has three different trials — his second-degree murder trial in New York, his federal trial, and then his Pennsylvania trial based on charges around his arrest. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Mangione’s trial has become one of the most monitored in modern history, with many on social media openly sympathizing with the alleged murderer.