Lawyers for the suspect accused of killing a health insurance executive are asking a court to exclude evidence suggesting the alleged incident was an act of terrorism.
Mangione’s lawyers filed a motion Thursday that accused New York prosecutors of stoking “hysteria and fear” against Mangione, who is charged with gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan in December. The motion says Mangione’s alleged “manifesto” and other evidence is inadmissible because police illegally obtained it.
The motion calls for his murder and terrorism charges to be dropped, but says that if they proceed, prosecutors should not be allowed to tell jurors that Mangione allegedly wrote about his intention to “wack” an insurance executive in a notebook. Lawyers said police obtained the writings in his backpack without a warrant when arresting him, failing to meet the emergency legal threshold required for such searches.
“This Court can ameliorate these constitutional concerns by staying this state case while Mr. Mangione literally fights for his
life in federal court,” the motions said, referencing capital charges from the Department of Justice (DOJ) in a separate case.
The motion also argued Mangione’s alleged remarks to officers — such as, “A lot of people will be upset I was arrested” — should be excluded because officers didn’t tell him his Miranda rights before he spoke.
Mangione’s case has morphed into a symbol of outrage against America’s healthcare system, with the defendant drawing supporters who have sent him fan mail, protested publicly for his release and justified the killing of Thompson, a father of two. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office charged him with murder “in furtherance of an act of terrorism,” illegal weapon possession and forgery.
Bragg’s prosecutors said there were bullets and shell casings at the scene of the murder with “deny,” “depose” and “delay” written on them, seemingly in reference to health insurance claims. Mangione’s lawyers denied that this evidence means Mangione “intended to ‘intimidate or coerce a civilian population,’” which would legally be considered terrorism.
Bragg’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Mangione’s attorneys acknowledged that the case allegedly inspired a Florida woman who was arrested in December for telling a health insurance provider over the phone, “Delay, deny, depose. You people are next.” However, Mangione’s team blamed the prosecution for making him a pseudo-celebrity.
“This would have been an alleged murder of a man outside a hotel,” the defense’s motion said of Thompson’s death. “Instead, the police leaked what was written on the bullets; the police leaked Mr. Mangione’s alleged writings; and the police called these alleged writings a manifesto — a term synonymous with terrorism.”
“None of this was done by Mr. Mangione,” the motion said. “It was law enforcement that created the air of terrorism surrounding this alleged crime and who now seek to blame Mr. Mangione for the hysteria and fear they created.”
Mangione also faces charges in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested, and a federal indictment related to Thompson’s murder. The Trump administration announced April 1 that it would seek the death penalty for the “cold-blooded assassination.”
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