Luigi Mangione will be extradited back to Manhattan on Thursday to face an “extremely rare” first-degree murder charge in the brazen firing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, sources said.
Mangione, 26, is expected to waive extradition during a hearing Thursday morning at the Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, after earlier seeking to bring him to the Big Apple to face charges.
He will appear sometime this week — possibly Thursday — before Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Gregory Caro on an 11-count indictment presented Tuesday, a court source confirmed to The Post.
Mangione, a University of Pennsylvania graduate from a prominent Maryland family, faces the possibility of life without parole if convicted of murder as an act of terrorism.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Mangione was convicted of the upgraded charges because the December 4 crime – in which Thompson was shot outside the Hilton Hotel in Midtown – was “intended to incite terrorism.”
“This was a horrific, well-planned targeted killing intended to shock, distract and intimidate,” Bragg said at a news conference.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said officers had witnessed a “shocking and horrifying celebration of a brutal murder”, which has been praised on social media.
“Let me say this clearly, there is no heroism in what Mangione did,” Tisch said at a joint news conference.
But murder in the first degree – which is typically charged in cases involving victims who are law enforcement members or potential witnesses to crimes – is being considered a “reach” by some legal experts.
“It’s exceptionally rare, and it’s really the first time in Manhattan I’ve seen terrorism being promoted,” veteran defense attorney Ron Kuby told The Post on Wednesday.
The lawyer said he thought Bragg was “wildly overcharging” Mangione in an attempt to make a “big headline”.
By calling Mangione a “terrorist,” prosecutors have opened the door to politicizing the killing of the health insurance executive, Kuby said.
Prosecutors have said that Mangione allegedly had a handwritten manifesto-type document that mentioned UnitedHealthcare and accused health insurance companies of corporate greed.
Kuby said, “If anyone was wondering whether Mangione, as a defendant, would be able to bring his politics to the case … they don’t have to worry about it.”
“The prosecution is going to do that for him,” he said.
Jason Goldman, a defense attorney in Manhattan, said murder in the first degree is a “rare charge” that could be used to secure a compromise verdict later in a trial.
Goldman said, “Although the killing certainly ‘forced and influenced’ the population, it may have been an unintended reaction contrary to the logic behind the killing.” “If anything, it may have been repurposed as a tool for the prosecution to secure a compromise verdict later in the trial.”
Mangione is facing two counts of second-degree murder in addition to multiple counts of criminal possession of a weapon and second-degree forgery. He faces a 25-year sentence on the second-degree murder charge.
Some experts warned that the online frenzy generated by the brazen murder could potentially derail the entire trial.
“A wildcard juror could turn this thing upside down,” said former Manhattan prosecutor and defense attorney Mike DiCiauro. “And if you’re on social media, you’ll see there are a lot of wildcards out there.”
Mangione had challenged extradition orders to bring him back to Manhattan, but Bragg said the accused killer could take the stand in a court proceeding scheduled for Thursday morning in Pennsylvania.
He will have a preliminary hearing on gun charges Thursday morning, followed immediately by a second court appearance, where sources said he will officially waive extradition to Manhattan.
Mangione is accused of shooting Thompson with a 9mm 3D-printed ghost gun equipped with a homemade silencer after he brazenly shot the CEO as he walked into the hotel on Sixth Avenue near West 54th Street. was where UnitedHealthcare’s parent company was holding its annual investor conference. ,
According to the indictment, the brutal murder captured on camera shows that the masked gunman shot Thompson in the back, causing injuries to his back and leg.
Two shell casings had the words “DENY” and “DEPOSE” written on them, and a bullet found at the scene had the words “DELAY” scrawled on it.
Authorities have said Mangione led police on a five-day pursuit after fleeing the shooting via e-bike, where he drove into the city before catching a taxi, which ultimately led to his fleeing the state.
Prosecutors said that before the murder he had been staying at the HI New York City Hostel on the Upper West Side for more than a week using a fake New Jersey ID in the name of Mark Rosario.
Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania on December 9.
(Tags to translate)Metro(T)US News(T)Alvin Bragg(T)Brian Thompson(T)Luigi Mangione(T)Manhattan Supreme Court(T)Murders
