Judge orders Altoona cop to court as Mangione hopes to have backpack search tossed
A police officer from Altoona, Pennsylvania, is due in court today to testify about the department's protocols on handling the personal property of an arrested suspect as accused assassin Luigi Mangione hopes to have evidence thrown out of the federal case against him.
When police arrested him five days after the ambush murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, prosecutors said they found anti-insurance industry writings in his backpack along with the suspected murder weapon and other evidence.
The New York City shooting happened in front of a surveillance camera, and police released other surveillance images in a wanted poster amid a nationwide manhunt.
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Customers and staff at an Altoona McDonald's spotted Mangione days later eating breakfast and called police, leading to his arrest.
Mangione's lawyers have taken issue with the search of his belongings, which they say happened without a warrant.
They raised similar concerns in a New York state court, leading to testimony from a number of Altoona officers, the McDonald's manager and additional witnesses.
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The state judge has not yet issued a ruling.
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Prosecutors say police did nothing wrong and maintain that the evidence would have been found inevitably since the bag was with Mangione when he was arrested.
Judge Margaret M. Garnett ordered the officer's presence after oral arguments on the defense motion to suppress evidence from Mangione's backpack. She said it does not have to be an officer involved in the arrest.
The government was also ordered to provide her with a copy of the affidavit in support of the federal search warrant.
In a separate effort, the defense is vying to have the top federal charges against Mangione thrown out — which would spare him from facing the death penalty if convicted of the remaining charges.
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In order for the murder charge to fall under federal jurisdiction, prosecutors need to show an underlying "crime of violence" was committed. They are alleging that was the stalking of Thompson across state lines before his murder.
The father of two lived and worked in Minnesota and traveled to New York for a business conference. He was shot outside the hotel where it was supposed to be held.
Following oral arguments on the issue, Mangione's lawyers sent the judge a letter citing a Ninth Circuit decision that happened days later in United States v. Gomez. The appellate court found that a California law on assault with a deadly weapon does not meet the "crime of violence" threshold due to legal technicalities.
"It’s like a series of dominos — the only way that the federal government can get to a death penalty charge in their case is if the murder was committed during the course of a violent felony," said Joshua Ritter, a Los Angeles criminal defense attorney and Fox News contributor. "And the reason that they need that is because they need what’s called a federal hook to get them federal jurisdiction. So the way that they get that hook is through the stalking."