Luigi Mangione, the suspect charged with shooting to death a health insurance company chief executive on a Manhattan street, will be taken Thursday morning to hearings on related Pennsylvania criminal charges and efforts to extradite him to New York.
Here's the latest:
Who is Mangione’s attorney?
Luigi Mangione has added a prominent defense lawyer to his legal team as Manhattan prosecutors work to return him from Pennsylvania to face a murder charge.
Mangione will be represented by Karen Friedman Agnifilo, who was a high-ranking deputy in the Manhattan district attorney’s office for years before entering private practice.
Friedman Agnifilo’s law firm, Agnifilo Intrater LLP, confirmed in a statement late Friday that she had been retained to represent Mangione. The firm said she will not be commenting on the case at this time.
▶ Read more about Mangione’s legal defense team
TV trucks line the street in front of the courthouse
And reporters are waiting in line to get inside the Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania.
A few supporters of Mangione are also in line, holding signs that say “Luigi the people hear you,” “Murder for profit is terrorism” and “Free Luigi.” One man said he came from Ohio to attend the hearings
How New York prosecutors used a terrorism law in the charges against Luigi Mangione
New York prosecutors are using a 9/11-era anti-terrorism law in their case against the man charged with gunning down UnitedHealthcare’s CEO outside a midtown Manhattan hotel.
Luigi Mangione was indicted on charges of murder as an act of terrorism, under a state law that allows for stiffer sentences when a killing is aimed at terrifying civilians or influencing government.
If it sounds like an unusual application of a terrorism law, it’s not the first time the statute has been applied to a case that wasn’t about cross-border extremism or a plot to kill masses of people.
Mangione is jailed on other charges in Pennsylvania, where he is scheduled to appear at an extradition hearing Thursday that could clear the way for him to be brought to New York.
▶ Read more about the anti-terrorism law and the case surrounding the death of Brian Thompson.
What’s expected in court Thursday
The preliminary hearing on forgery and firearms charges and consideration of a fugitive from justice complaint against Luigi Mangione may not take long.
He is expected to waive extradition, clearing the way for his return to New York, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The person was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the case and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity.
Court officials said Mangione will attend the early morning proceedings at the Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg. If a judge authorizes his extradition, Mangione would then be brought to New York, where he could appear in state court for arraignment Thursday afternoon or Friday.
▶ Read more about what to expect in Thursday’s Pennsylvania court hearing
