A legal defense fund on behalf of alleged United Healthcare CEO shooter Luigi Mangione has been established and is accepting donations, reaching over $20,000 by Tuesday night.
In a press release Tuesday, a group calling itself the December 4 Legal Committee announced a crowdfunding campaign.
“In the midst of a heated political climate in which an unbiased jury is almost impossible to imagine, this fundraiser will help to guarantee the suspect’s constitutional right to fair legal representation,” the group stated.
ADVERTISEMENT
The fundraiser for the 26-year-old is on GiveSendGo, a Christian crowdfunding website.
Mangione faced an extradition court hearing on Tuesday in Pennsylvania and was subsequently denied bail. He is being held in that state on gun charges, while also facing charges in New York related to the murder of Brian Thompson. His defense attorney, Tom Dickey, said his client will plead not guilty to the Pennsylvania charges, and expects the same to be the case regarding those in New York.
When asked on CNN why he believes members of the public are offering to pay for Mangione’s defense, Dickey replied, “The Supreme Court says all these rich billionaires can give all kind of money to candidates and that’s ‘free speech,’ so maybe these people were exercising their right to free speech and saying that’s the way they’re supporting my client.”
Carol Sherman, a committee organizer, said that—violence aside—the shooter “has tapped into popular outrage over the quality and cost of privatized American healthcare.”
A written manifesto that authorities said belonged to Mangione reads in part, “A reminder: the US has the #1 most expensive healthcare system in the world, yet we rank roughly #42 in life expectancy.”
“United is the [indecipherable] largest company in the U.S. by market cap, behind only Apple, Google, Walmart. It has grown and grown, but [h]as our life expectancy?” Mangione continues.
“No the reality is, these [indecipherable] have simply gotten too powerful, and they continue to abuse our country for immense profit because the American public has allwed them to get away with it.”
The committee’s press release also notes how United Healthcare, according to Forbes, denies about a third of claims, and how Anthem BlueCross BlueShield responded to the shooting by backtracking on its plan to limit its anesthesia coverage of surgical patients.
“We do not advocate violence,” Sherman explained, “but it is striking to see how many patients’ lives have already been improved after this one incident. How many people have been sentenced to death by cruel denials of coverage while insurance CEOs continue drive up healthcare costs for profit?”
At the scene of the crime, authorities said they found shell casings reading “deny,” “defend,” and “depose”—terms believed to reference shady insurer tactics to avoid paying out claims.
A back surgery that Mangione had months ago has garnered considerable interest.
