Forensic and ballistics evidence that police say links the killer of Medicare CEO Brian Thompson to the crime scene complicates defense, former prosecutors and other legal experts say. They say it will happen.
Luigi Mangione, 26, was arrested in Pennsylvania on Monday after a multi-state, multi-day manhunt that ended at a McDonald’s in the town of Altoona.
New York authorities say fingerprints and shell casings link him to the crime scene.
His lawyer, Thomas Dickie, earlier told local media he had “not yet seen any evidence” implicating his client.
He said Mangione will plead not guilty to the charges he faces in Pennsylvania, including the firearms charge.
In New York, he has been charged with second-degree murder in Thompson’s killing, but it is unclear how he will plead. He is currently being held in a state prison in Pennsylvania, where he is fighting extradition to face murder charges. The legal battle over his extradition could take more than a month to resolve, officials said.
But legal experts told the BBC his efforts to contest extradition to New York were unlikely to succeed. However, they were able to provide a defense for him with a glimpse of the state’s evidence against him.
“I don’t even know if this is him,” attorney Dickey said in a recent interview with NewsNation, referring to an image of Thompson’s killer.
“We’re going to test these waters and give the government an opportunity to provide evidence,” he said.
Mitchell Epner, a New York-based lawyer and former prosecutor, told the BBC that there are two main approaches Mangione could take if he were to be extradited to New York to face murder charges and plead not guilty. .
“The first defense is ‘It wasn’t me,’ and the second defense is ‘It was me, but I shouldn’t be punished for X,'” he said.
New York police said Mangione was found with a gun similar to the murder weapon, a silencer, fake identification and three handwritten pages pointing to a potential motive.
Epner said the evidence publicly known so far means denying liability is “out the window.”
Another New York-based lawyer, criminal defense attorney Dmitry Shaknevich, said Mr. Mangione’s lawyers could theoretically argue that he is unfit to stand trial because of his impaired “mental condition.” , he said.
“If we think the judge misunderstands or doesn’t understand what’s going on in the courtroom, then the case basically can’t move forward,” he said.
“He will be institutionalized for a period of time until he is deemed healthy, which may never be the case.”
Shaknevich added that that defense is different from a plea of insanity, where the defense team could argue that “there is some kind of mental defect and therefore you are not responsible for your actions.”
“There is a possibility that he may be deemed not guilty because he does not meet the elements of a crime,” he said. “But again, he will not be released. If his defense is successful, he will be institutionalized for a period of time.”
The start of Mangione’s legal battle prompted anonymous donors to donate thousands of dollars to Mangione’s defense through an online fundraiser.
This comes as some people online share their support for the suspect and their anger at the health insurance industry. The New York City Police Department also warned that a “hit list” posted online after Thompson’s murder could put some medical executives at risk.
The NYPD said in a bulletin that some of the viral posts included the names and salaries of other insurance company executives. Actual wanted signs depicting some of the executives have also been posted in Manhattan.
Mangione was said to be dissatisfied with the industry as a whole.
Timothy Gallagher, a former FBI agent and managing director of global law firm Nardello & Company, said the current climate means “the threat of copycat criminals is real.” .
“There are people out there who are frustrated and looking at the amount of press and attention given to defendants,” he said.
Mr Gallagher said there was “a huge amount of support from the dark corners of the internet” for anti-corporate causes.
“I’m concerned that it will encourage subsequent attacks,” he said.
