By Jack Queen and Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Luigi Mangione, the person accused of fatally capturing medical insurance govt Brian Thompson on a Manhattan road, pleaded not responsible on Monday to New York state homicide fees that decision him a terrorist.
Mangione, 26, was escorted into Choose Gregory Carro’s Thirteenth-floor courtroom within the New York State Prison Courthouse in decrease Manhattan with a courtroom officer on every arm and a procession of half a dozen officers who adopted him. He was handcuffed and shackled and carrying a burgundy sweater over a white collared shirt.
Mangione leaned right into a microphone and responded “not responsible” when requested how he entered his plea to the 11-count indictment, which incorporates three homicide fees, together with homicide as an act of terrorism.
If convicted, he faces a most sentence of life in jail with out the potential of parole.
Final Thursday, Mangione was transferred from Pennsylvania to New York after deciding to not oppose extradition. He was taken from a helicopter in decrease Manhattan by a big phalanx of police and New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams.
That spectacle and different statements from public officers recommend Mangione could not be capable of get a good trial, his lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo mentioned throughout the listening to.
“They deal with him like he’s some type of political fodder, some type of spectacle,” Agnifilo mentioned. “He’s not an emblem, he’s somebody who has the fitting to a good trial.”
Monday’s arraignment was the second look in a New York courtroom for Mangione, 26.
He was arrested at a McDonald’s (NYSE:) restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, 5 days after the brazen pre-dawn Dec. 4 killing of Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealth Group’s (NYSE:) UnitedHealthcare insurance coverage unit :), in entrance of a lodge. in midtown Manhattan, the place the corporate was assembly for an investor convention.
Mangione additionally faces a four-count federal prison grievance accusing him of stalking and killing Thompson. He has not but been requested to enter a plea to those fees. U.S. Justice of the Peace Choose Katharine Parker ordered Mangione detained throughout a Dec. 19 presentation on these fees.
“deny, defend, depose”
Greater than two dozen individuals sat within the courtroom viewers the place Mangione was introduced.
A small group of protesters gathered outdoors the Manhattan courthouse in freezing temperatures to specific assist for Mangione and anger at well being care corporations.
One individual held an indication that learn “DOW, DEFEND, DROP,” the phrases police say have been discovered carved into shell casings on the crime scene. These phrases echo techniques that some accuse insurers of utilizing to keep away from paying claims.
Whereas Thompson’s homicide has been condemned by public authorities, Mangione has been hailed as a folks hero by some Individuals who denounce the excessive prices of well being care and the ability held by insurance coverage corporations to refuse to pay for sure therapies medical.
The federal fees would make him eligible for the demise penalty, if the U.S. lawyer’s workplace in Manhattan decides to pursue that sentence.
The separate federal and state circumstances will proceed in parallel. The case is at present anticipated to go to trial first, federal prosecutors mentioned.
Mangione’s lead lawyer, Friedman Agnifilo, mentioned throughout the federal courtroom listening to that the 2 units of fees seemed to be primarily based on conflicting theories. The state fees accuse Mangione of aspiring to “intimidate or coerce a civilian inhabitants” and affect politics, whereas the federal fees accuse him of stalking and killing a person .
Friedman Agnifilo mentioned the 2 circumstances appeared utterly completely different, and he or she requested prosecutors to make clear whether or not each would proceed. Dominic Gentile, a federal prosecutor, mentioned Thursday’s preliminary look was not the suitable time to handle these authorized arguments.
In keeping with the federal prison grievance, police who arrested Mangione discovered a pocket book containing a number of handwritten pages that “expressed hostility towards the medical insurance trade and rich executives particularly.”
A pocket book entry dated October 22 allegedly described an intention to “wack” the chief govt of an insurance coverage firm at its investor convention. (This story has been corrected to discuss with Brian Thompson as a UnitedHealth govt, not chief govt, within the headline and paragraph 1)
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