Luigi Mangione returns to NYC Thursday, faces first-degree murder charge in UnitedHeathcare CEO shooting
Luigi Mangione is set to be hauled back to Manhattan on Thursday to face an “exceedingly rare” first-degree murder charge in the brazen shooting of UnitedHeathcare CEO Brian Thompson, sources said.
Mangione, 26, is expected to waive extradition during a hearing at the Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania on Thursday morning after previously fighting orders seeking to bring him to the Big Apple to face charges.
He will appear sometime this week — possibly as soon as Thursday — before Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro on an 11-count indictment unveiled Tuesday, a courthouse source confirmed to The Post.
Mangione — a University of Pennsylvania graduate from a prominent Maryland family — faces the possibility of life without parole if convicted of murder as an act of terrorism.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said that Mangione was indicted on the upgraded charges because the Dec. 4 crime — in which Thompson was gunned down outside the Hilton hotel in Midtown — was “intended to provoke terror.”
“This was a frightening, well-planned targeted murder that was intended to cause shock, attention and intimidation,” Bragg said at a news conference.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said that officials have seen a “shocking and appalling celebration of cold-blooded murder” that has been praised on social media.
“Let me say this plainly, there is no heroism in what Mangione did,” Tisch said at the joint press conference.
But murder in the first degree — which is typically charged in cases involving victims who are law enforcement members or possible witnesses to crimes — is being considered by some legal experts as a “reach.”
“It’s extraordinarily rare, and this is actually the first time in Manhattan I’ve seen one with a terrorism enhancement,” veteran defense attorney Ron Kuby told The Post Wednesday.
The attorney said that he felt Bragg is “wildly overcharging” Mangione in an attempt to make a “great headline.”
By calling Mangione a “terrorist,” prosecutors have opened the door to politicizing the slaying of the health insurance executive, Kuby added.
Mangione allegedly had a handwritten manifesto-type document that mentioned UnitedHealthcare and accused health insurance companies of corporate greed, prosecutors have said.
“If anyone was wondering whether Mangione as a defendant was going to be able to bring his politics into the case… he doesn’t have to worry about that,” Kuby said.
“The prosecution is going to do that for him,” he added.
Jason Goldman, a defense attorney in Manhattan, said that murder in the first degree is a “rare charge” that could be used in order to secure a compromised verdict later at trial.
“While the killing certainly has ‘coerced and influenced’ the population, that may be an unintended response as opposed to the reasoning behind the killing,” Goldman said. “If anything, it may have been charged as a tool for the prosecution to later secure a compromise verdict at trial.”
Mangione also faces two counts of second-degree murder in addition to multiple counts of weapon possession and second-degree forgery charges. He faces 25 years to life on the second-degree murder charge.
Some experts warned that the online hysteria sparked by the brazen murder could potentially sway an entire trial.
“One wildcard juror can turn this thing upside down,” former Manhattan prosecutor and defense attorney Mike Discioarro said. “And if you’re on social media, you’ll see there are a lot of wildcards out there.”
Mangione had challenged extradition orders seeking to bring him back to Manhattan, but Bragg said that the accused killer may abandon his stance at a court proceeding scheduled in Pennsylvania Thursday morning.
He will have a preliminary hearing on Thursday morning for gun charges immediately followed by a second court appearance where sources said he’ll officially waive extradition back to Manhattan.
Mangione is accused of gunning down Thompson with a 9mm 3D-printed ghost gun equipped with a homemade silencer when he brazenly shot the CEO as he walked to the hotel on Sixth Avenue near West 54th Street, where UnitedHealthcare’s parent company was holding its annual investor conference.
The cold-blooded caught-on-camera killing shows the masked gunman shoot Thompson from behind, striking him in the back and leg, according to the indictment.
The words “DENY” and “DEPOSE” were written on two of the shell casings, and the word “DELAY” was spread out on a bullet found at the scene.
Mangione led police on a five-day manhunt after fleeing the shooting via an e-bike, where he headed uptown before grabbing a taxi, that eventually led to him fleeing the state, officials have said.
He had been staying at the HI New York City Hostel on the Upper West Side for more than a week before the murder using a fake New Jersey ID under the name Mark Rosario, prosecutors said.
Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania on Dec. 9.
