Judge rules gun and writings are admissible in Luigi Mangione's New York murder trial

A New York judge will allow a gun and writings found in Luigi Mangione's backpack after his 2024 arrest to be presented at his state murder trial over the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, but has ruled that other items are inadmissible.

Judge Gregory Carro ruled on Monday that certain evidence "must be suppressed, including the magazine, cellphone, passport, wallet and computer chip" found with Mangione at a Pennsylvania McDonald's.

Carro said that evidence was recovered as part of an "improper and warrantless search" of the then-26-year-old.

However, prosecutors will be allowed to present items found during a search at a police station, including include a gun and a notebook.

Carro also ruled that some of Mangione's questioning by the officers who initially encountered him at the Pennsylvania fast food restaurant must be excluded from trial. Those include questions about Mangione lying about his name, and asking if he had a fake identification card.

Prosecutors will be able to admit evidence from later questioning, when Mangione was in custody, Carro ruled.

Mangione is accused of shooting and killing Thompson on a Manhattan street in December 2024. He faces state charges including second degree murder, several firearms charges, and stalking. He has pleaded not guilty.

Mangione is also charged in a separate federal case, in which he has also pleaded not guilty.

He was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania several days after Thompson's shooting in New York following a nation-wide manhunt.

The evidence at stake stemmed from that encounter and the events that followed.

On 8 December 2024, Altoona police responded to a call about a man who resembled publicly disseminated pictures of the suspected New York shooter, sitting in a local McDonald's.

Two officers approached Mangione and began to ask him questions about his identity. At about 9:48 am, a pair of officers read Mangione his Miranda rights -- a series of instructions reminding an arrested person of their rights against self-incrimination in the United States.

While at the McDonald's, another officer went through the contents of Mangione's backpack and found several items, including a loaded magazine for a gun, a passport and a Faraday bag, which helps protect electronic devices from external interference.

Later, at the police station, officers conducted a more thorough search of Mangione's backpack, where they found a handgun in one of the compartments and officials catalogued a red journal as part of an inventory search.

Mangione's defence team had mounted an aggressive bid to exclude evidence from the McDonald's encounter and arrest, as well as some of the statements he made to officers. They argued that police improperly searched his bag without a warrant, and did not properly question Mangione.

The court heard several days of arguments over this evidence late last year. Prosecutors argued that the searches and questioning of Mangione were lawful.

On Monday, Judge Carro ruled that Mangione's responses to officers' questions, before he received his Miranda warnings at 9:48 am, could not be used at trial. He also found that prosecutors had not justified their search of Mangione's bag at McDonald's.

Though getting some of the evidence suppressed is a win for Mangione's legal team, prosecutors will still present two critical pieces of evidence – the alleged murder weapon and writings by Mangione – before a jury.

Mangione appeared in court for the brief hearing wearing a navy-blue suit. He whispered to one of his attorneys while his lead lawyers, Karen Friedman Agnifilo and Marc Agnifilo, conferenced with the judge and prosecutors at the front of the courtroom.

Several rows of spectators and Mangione supporters filled the back benches of the courtroom, several wearing shirts that demanded his exoneration.

The state trial is expected to start in September.