Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old accused of murder in the shooting of a health insurance executive in Manhattan will fight efforts to extradite him from Pennsylvania to New York, setting up what could be a weeks-long delay before he can be taken there to face criminal charges that were unsealed Tuesday.
Mangione, a Maryland native from a prominent Baltimore area family, is charged in both New York, where police say he fatally shot UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson, and Pennsylvania, where he was arrested Monday after an extensive manhunt.
Mangione, who holds a degree in computer science, was last known to be living in Hawaii. Online, he frequently participated in discussions on philosophy, psychology, and evolutionary biology.
Some who knew him recalled his kindness; others described him as smart and well-liked.
Mangione appeared in a Pennsylvania courtroom Tuesday afternoon, where his attorney, Thomas M. Dickey, objected to being extradited and sought to have bail set for him.
Judge David B. Consiglio of the Blair County Court of Common Pleas rejected the bail request, so Mangione will remain incarcerated for now in a Pennsylvania state prison.
Authorities in New York made public court papers providing more detail about the counts Mangione faces in the early-morning slaying of Thompson, 50.
Thompson was shot and killed by a masked assailant outside a Hilton in Midtown Manhattan on Wednesday, a chilling attack captured on video that quickly spread online.
After the shooting, investigators launched a sweeping manhunt in Manhattan and beyond, saying that the suspect they were seeking had most likely fled the city soon after the attack.
On Monday morning, officials say, police were summoned to a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about a man they “immediately recognized” as the suspect wanted in Thompson’s shooting.
Mangione is facing five counts in New York: murder in the second degree, two separate counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, criminally possessing a forged instrument in the second degree and criminally possessing a weapon in the third degree.
In New York, second-degree murder applies broadly to homicides, including those that stem from gang violence or domestic incidents. First-degree murder is rarer and is reserved for when special circumstances are at play, such as if a police officer is killed while on duty or if a victim was tortured, among other things.
In Pennsylvania, officials have also charged Mangione with five counts, including possessing an instrument of a crime, providing false identification to law enforcement and carrying a firearm without a license.
When he arrived at the courthouse near Altoona for his extradition hearing Tuesday afternoon, Mangione appeared to struggle with the throng of officers escorting him.
He shouted something about “an insult to the intelligence of the American people” toward a crowd of journalists nearby before he was led inside.
His demeanor in the courtroom was much more subdued. He rocked back and forth in his chair, bit his lip, and scanned the room, looking back multiple times toward the area where the public was seated.
At one point he started to speak, but his attorney urged him not to.
Prosecutors said during the hearing that when Mangione was arrested, he had in his possession several items, including face masks, a passport, $8,000 in U.S. currency, and $2,000 in unspecified foreign currency.
Dickey began to argue during the hearing that the face masks were related to the coronavirus. Mangione tried to interject, but Dickey cut him off and told him not to talk.
This is not Dickey’s first high-profile case. In 2012, he represented Nicholas Horner, a military veteran charged with killing two people.
Dickey had argued that his client was suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder brought on by his military service, according to news reports from that time.
Prosecutors sought the death penalty, but jurors deadlocked and he was sentenced to life instead. Horner died in prison in 2019.
At a news conference after the court appearance, Dickey declined to say who hired him to represent Mangione and would not reveal details from conversations he has had with his client.
The lawyer also declined to discuss the criminal charges in Pennsylvania or New York but noted that his client was entitled to legal protections.
“The fundamental concept of American justice is the presumption of innocence,” he said. “I have not seen one scintilla, one drop, one speck of evidence yet.”
Peter Weeks, the local district attorney, told reporters that his office would push ahead with working to ensure Mangione makes his way to New York, adding that he believes the charges there take precedence. This process could take as long as 30 to 45 days, Weeks said.
“We’re going to get the defendant out there,” he said.
Contesting extradition, he said, just creates “more hoops for law enforcement to jump through, but we’re happy to do that.”