Yes, it's a fight over a backpack - how it was seized, how it was searched, and whether the gun and notebook found inside will be tossed or kept as knockout-blow evidence in a future murder trial. But Luigi Mangione's ongoing evidence suppression hearing, playing out for two weeks in a Manhattan courtroom, is more than that. The serious legal battle features an often amusing undercard bout: repeatedsparring over nothing more than the naming of things.
Mangione, 27, was arrested in December 2024 and charged with fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a sidewalk in Midtown Manhattan. Public officials condemned the shocking assassination. Mangione became a folk hero to some Americans who decry steep healthcare costs. He has pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges and is expected to face trial next year. Mangione has pleaded not guilty in a separate federal case where prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty.
It looks increasingly likely that because someone snuck a peek into Jim Comey's privileged communications - or, because Tyler Lemons cares enough about his bar license that he disclosed that someone snuck a peek into Comey's privileged communications - Comey may get a ruling that the government violated his Fourth Amendment rights, throwing out some of the material used in the government's filing laying out the theory of their case.
The Biden administration dismissed and publicly contradicted an internal finding by a longtime military policeman that Israeli soldiers intentionally shot at and killed prominent Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in 2022, the former official has said in his first public interview. Col. Steve Gabavics was a top official in the U.S. Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority, which conducted the U.S.'s investigation into the killing of the Al Jazeera journalist. Gabavics, a military policeman with three decades of experience, was the chief of staff to the office's head, Lt. Gen. Michael Fenzel, at the time of the probe, The New York Times reports.
Lawyers for Luigi Mangione asked a New York federal judge Saturday to dismiss some criminal charges, including the only count for which he could face the death penalty, from a federal indictment brought against him in the December assassination of UnitedHealthcare's chief executive. In papers filed in Manhattan federal court, the lawyers said prosecutors should also be prevented from using at trial his statements to law enforcement officers and his backpack where a gun and ammunition were found.
Lawyers for Luigi Mangione are seeking to dismiss some of the criminal charges brought against him in a federal indictment following the December 2024 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, including the only count eligible for the death penalty. In documents filed at a Manhattan federal court on Saturday, defense attorneys for Mangione sought to dismiss a count of murder through the use of a firearm.
